TAKO Seminar: Protecting Palestinian Cultural Heritage

TAKO Seminar: Protecting Palestinian Cultural Heritage

Wednesday, June 3, 2026, 12:30–16:00

Werstas Labour Museum // Al-Bireh municipality building (and online participation via Zoom)  

Palestinian cultural heritage, Palestinian museums with their collections, and archives, are under exceptional pressure—yet they remain vital spaces for maintaining identity, memory, and resistance. The three expert presentations at our annual spring seminar offer an overview of how the museum sector, built and intangible cultural heritage, and archives function amid occupation, destruction, and resource scarcity —and what kinds of innovative, community-driven, and international solutions Palestinian professionals are developing to safeguard them. 

The Museum Documentation and Collections Collaboration Network TAKO is organizing this hybrid event in collaboration with ICOMOS Palestine, the Archival Community Palestine (ACP) Task Force, and ICOM Palestine as a starting point for discussion and an opportunity for peer-learning with our Palestinian colleagues. 

The seminar will be conducted in English. Simultaneous interpretation into Arabic will be available. 

A detailed schedule for the seminar will be sent to registered participants and published prior to the event. There will be coffee/tea for those participating from the Labour Museum Werstas, courtesy of TAKO.

Registration is now open and will remain open until June 1 2026:

Protecting Palestinian Cultural Heritage – Registration Form 

Presenters: 

Mamdouh Froukh, ICOM Palestine 

Curator Mamdouh Froukh’s presentation examines the Palestinian museum sector as a historical, political, and cultural phenomenon. It frames the development of museums as part of Palestinian identity, analyzes the current situation from the perspectives of different museum types, operating models, and regional distribution, and addresses key challenges, such as the destruction of cultural heritage in Gaza. 

The presentation also highlights innovations in the museum sector, such as digital practices and community-driven approaches, and examines case studies from Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem. In addition, it presents the role of the recently established ICOM Palestine as a professional forum for the sector and reflects on the current needs of museum professionals as well as potential avenues for collaboration with the Finnish museum sector. 

Issam Juha, ICOMOS Palestine 

Issam Juha, Architect and Director of the Center for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, also serves as a board member of ICOMOS Palestine. In his presentation, he will discuss both the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of Gaza and the occupied West Bank, with a particular focus on the impact of occupation and conflict on Palestinian cultural heritage. 

Drawing on recent case studies, Juha will highlight Palestinian initiatives aimed at safeguarding heritage sites in Gaza during the war, including efforts related to Qasr Al-Basha, formerly used as a museum in Gaza, and the historic Great Omari Mosque.

Sajedah Sami, Archival Community Palestine (ACP) 

Archival expert and researcher Sajedah Sami’s presentation focuses on the political, technical, and infrastructural constraints that threaten both physical and digital archives in Palestine. In addition, Sami highlights the risks to archival preservation posed by fragmentation, limited resources, and environmental vulnerabilities, and presents emergency measures for preservation and digitization work in the Palestinian context.