The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, UNESCO and Sweden partnered to establish and launch the Palestinian Virtual Museum
Ramallah: In framework of the support to the Palestinian Cultural Heritage through the project “Local Development through the Rehabilitation and Revitalization of Historic Environment in Palestine” funded by Sweden through Sida; UNESCO and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MoTA) joined forces to support museums as repositories for heritage and identity. In light of the role museum’s play in enriching Palestinian human capital, MoTA and UNESCO partnered to establish the first Virtual Museum of Archaeological Objects representing the history and culture of Palestine.
The Virtual Museum was established as a response to the challenges imposed by the outbreak of the COVID-19 in Palestine, and the need for multiple sources of knowledge with reliable scientific materials especially in the time of recurring home confinement to help students and their families in distance learning processes. The Virtual Museum is a platform developed by Palestinian experts with simple tools to facilitate accessibility and foster an understanding of history through archaeology using attractive methods. It comprises a collection of more than 40 digitized magnificent artifacts that were used as tools in people’s daily lives and found during archaeological missions in various locations in Palestine. The Museum also portrays five major historical periods in Palestine through scientific chronological descriptions.
The Virtual Museum platform, through its website and mobile phone application, provides an opportunity for students and knowledge-seekers to have an overview of the Palestinian history and related cultural heritage objects from the Paleolithic period until the end of the British Mandate period ended in 1948. This Museum enables the visitor to see a digital copy of the artifacts that corresponds to reality, where he/she can see their shapes, colors, materials by moving and rotating them in different directions thanks to the 3D scanning, read and listen to a brief explanation about them and how they were used in their original environment.
UNESCO and MoTA considers this museum and its content as a solid basis and a nucleus of a larger initiative that aims to document and display thousands of Palestinian artifacts for educational and research purposes. Such a Museum will present to the Palestinian youth and general public, treasures found in the land of Palestine and will show how these treasures contributed to the development of human civilization.
The project was implemented in partnership between UNESCO National Office for Palestine and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, with financial support from Sweden. The partners would like to express their sincere appreciation for and thanks to all those who contributed to this important and scientific achievement.
You are invited to visit the Virtual Museum on: https://virtualmuseum.tourism.ps/
You may watch the User Guide Video on YouTube via this link: https://youtu.be/G3cG3hlHEUM