Iwan Centre for Cultural Heritage in the Faculty of Engineering at Islamic University of Gaza has concluded a specialized course targeting young workers in the field of old stone facades restoration.
Through her participation in the final ceremony of the training program, Engineer Amal Abu Alhawa, Director of Old City of Jerusalem Revitalization Program, asserted the continued cooperation within the framework of local training and capacity-building in the Gaza Strip, stating that the program was part of the vocational training activities carried out by the Old City of Jerusalem Revitalization Program in the West Bank and Jerusalem affiliated with Taawon Association, funded by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.
Dr. Ahmed Alastal, Director of Iwan Center, explained that this training program is part of the development of technical and professional qualifications of specialists and professionals working in the field of preservation of historical and architectural heritage in Palestine. He added that the aim of this program is to train workers on the basics of preservation and restoration, and to introduce them to tools, materials, and mixing rates needed to restore the stone facades of historic buildings. So that, this technique is to be applied in other similar buildings, which contributes to the promotion of job creation.
Engineer Mahmoud Albalawi, training program supervisor, noted that the western facade of the historic Camilla Building was chosen, where current restoration work was being carried out, but not including the facade. The choice was to focus on the restoration work in this building. He also clarified that the main output of this specialized course, namely, is making the restoration of a stone facade of an old historic building. For that purpose, (15) inexperienced workers within the age group of 18- 40 were trained for a period of 10 days, 6 hours per day, with providing materials and tools for the training process.
It should be noted that the training program is an extension of the rehabilitation and capacity-building strategy as one of the Centre’s working strategies to promote the preservation of cultural heritage and historic buildings in the Gaza Strip.
