The Palestine people is resisting occupation and isolation with the collaboration of artists from all over the world and, most especially, with a policy of rehabilitation for its historic centres
On 12 October, the Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad opened the third Riwaq Biennale in the presence of various ministers and local authorities, and with the attendance of over 200 people from all over the world. The event marked the start of a week of intense creative activity and analysis to promote and recover Palestine’s architectural heritage.
A week of visits and debates
The activities consisted in a series of visits, debates and projects in these 50 villages, in close collaboration with local organizations and administrations. The aim was to lay the foundations to make local organizations a driving force for the protection, use and promotion of Palestine’s cultural heritage by means of rehabilitation and revitalization projects. Another of the Biennale’s objectives was to promote the opportunity to explore the country’s cultural references, codes and practices, and find new ways of connecting these places to help residents appropriate their heritage and publicize Palestinian culture worldwide.
Yatta, Arraba, Adh Dhahiriya, Abu Dies, Surif, As Samu’, Asira ash Shamaliya, Ya’bad, Deir Gassaneh, ‘Anabta, Bani Na’eem, Burqa, Beita, Halhul, Sa’ir, Silat adh Dhahr, Idhna, Rantis, Aqraba, Ash Shuyukh, Ni’lin, ‘Aboud, Burin, Deir Istiya, Beit Iksa, Beituniya, Jamma’in, Hajja, Beit Hanina, Al ‘Ubeidiya, Taybeh, Sabastiya, Abwein, Sanur, Beit Fajjar, Bruqin, Birzeit, Deir Ammar, Al Mazra’a al Qibliya, Mazari’ an Nubani, Ajjul, Sanniriya, Al Jib, Beit Wazan, Jilijilya, Ein Siniya, Jaba’, Kur, Ras Karkar, Khan Yunis: these are the 50 Palestinian villages affected by the actions of the third Riwaq Biennale. The selection was made according to criteria of historical value and state of conservation with a view to protecting and promoting Palestinian cultural heritage.
A more than fragmented territory
The difficulties of movement in a territory that is increasingly fragmented with each day that passes (new Jewish settlements, checkpoints, road blocks that force people miles out of their way to get to the next village, and the shameful wall of Sharon) were obvious to participants in the Biennale trying to attend the conference. In the present-day situation, it is difficult to give the territory physical cohesion, which is why Riwaq has set out to do just that by using imaginative initiatives such as this Biennale, where creation and art are ways of overcoming a routine that is hard to bear.
Riwaq used as a resource these 50 historic centres, which have valuable heritage that is still used and inhabited. This surprising fact is proof of the population’s resistance to the continual pressure of everyday difficulties and its deep love of its roots. Rather than big exhibitions and activities, the idea is to organize visits through this scattered territory that so clearly reflects the dismemberment of the country. These visits were conceived as a series of network activities among local and international artists, architects, urban planners, experts and analysts, who had the chance to discover at first hand the local heritage and population, at the same time developing ideas and collaborations for the future.
Preventive conservation
Riwaq, which applies the RehabiMed Method in its rehabilitation interventions, faces the difficult reality of trying to avoid the continual loss of heritage as a result of the actions of the Israeli army, abandonment by inhabitants and the problems of undertaking integrated rehabilitation in an absolutely unstable political, economic and social context. The Mayor of Birzeit, one of the villages that hosted many of the debates, said: “It is impossible to think about social and economic development under occupation.” Yet despite these forceful words, his village is hard at work rehabilitating the historic centre.
To address this harsh reality, Riwaq uses what is known as preventive conservation. This involves undertaking the basic work needed to prevent buildings in a state of gradual degradation from falling down, turning historic centres into a pile of rubble. This is an interesting idea, with grants to rehabilitate inhabited buildings and minimum consolidation work to keep abandoned constructions standing. This serves to set historic centres on the path to revitalization, or at least to prevent the process of ongoing depopulation due to the poor state of conservation of the whole. Problems of ownership, financing, management and many others similar to those faced in historic centres in Europe also crop up, and the Biennale’s debates outlined some ideas to deal with this situation and to keep the spirit alive for what we hope will be a more peaceful, promising future.
RehabiMed and Montada at the International Cultural Heritage Show in Paris
From 5 to 8 November 2009, Europe’s biggest cultural heritage show took place at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris. With a total of 250 expositors and over 250,000 visits, this venue has become a major meeting point for all professionals involved in heritage management and rehabilitation. This year saw the incorporation of specific sections for specialist firms in new restoration technologies, schools specializing in artisan trades, regional heritage associations, international institutions working on urban revitalization and publishers in the sector, in addition to those consolidated in previous years.
The Asociación RehabiMed and the Montada project were both present, with stands organized by the Ecole d’Avignon and KILO Architectures, collaborators on the projects in Morocco. RehabiMed made the most of the occasion to publicize its rehabilitation projects and to present the RehabiMed Method to the public. Visitors were particularly interested in the recent constitution of the Asociación RehabiMed and how to take active part in it. The Montada project, in the framework of the Euromed Heritage 4 programme financed by the European Union and directed by the CAATEEB, presented the six cities in the Maghreb where its interventions are being carried out, along with information panels, the creation of the EIDEM group of experts and the advisory role that this international network is to play in the rehabilitation of traditional architecture.
