Al Qarara Cultural Museum


The Al Qarara Cultural Museum was a museum in al-Qarara, near Khan Yunis, in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. Founded in 2016, the museum featured the archaeology and history of the area, collected by its founders and by local community members. It was destroyed by Israeli forces in October 2023 during the Gaza war.
WWW facebook.com/museum.qarar...FB museum.qararaYT alqararaculturalmuseum360...TikTok museum.qararaIG museum.qarara

Background

The museum was founded in 2016 in Al Qarara, a village close to Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, by six people, including museum director Mohamed Abu Lahia and his wife Najla Abu Lahia. Mohamed became interested in local archaeology from childhood, whilst Najla studied archaeology and art at Gaza University.
The Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities granted the museum, housed in a former grain silo, a private licence. It was the second museum, and the first private museum, to be established in the area. The museum was designed to educate people about Palestinian cultural heritage, to strengthen their sense of identity.

Collections

The museum contained over 3500 archaeological, historical and numismatic objects from the Gaza region. The objects dated from 4000 BC to the present-day, many of which were collected or donated by local community members. Key objects included Byzantine mosaics, swords dating to the Crusader period, thobes, as well as jewellery worn by women prior to the Nakba. It also included military items dating to the British Mandate in Palestine. In 2021 the museum celebrated the National Day of Palestinian Heritage.

Destruction

The museum and its collection were damaged in October 2023 by Israeli forces via an airstrike just outside the Museum. The museum's structure, display cases, and collection were damaged. The Arab Organization of Museums later confirmed the museum was completely destroyed after Israel issued a warning to evacuate its collection to the south of Gaza. Reports indicated that the initial airstrike caused substantial damage, with accounts noting that only remnants such as shards of pottery and smashed glass remained at the site.

Awards