Ceramics of Palestine exhibition at National Art Museum displays items from the pottery centre of Hebron

Wonderful diversity of style

Ceramics of Palestine exhibition at National Art Museum displays items from the pottery centre of Hebron



Palestine is famous for its ceramics. Despite its modest size, it boasts a great number of unique pottery workshops and an established painting school. Jerusalem Ceramics from Hebron is a well-known pottery school.

Hebron is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is considered to be the second holiest after Jerusalem for Jews, Christians and Muslims. In the early 20th century, a family of craftsmen invited from Turkey revamped the ceramic tiles on the Dome of the Rock mosque. They stayed on to organise their own business in Palestine, which continues to be successful today. Palestinian pottery is stylistically diverse, with bright colours placed on bowls, plates, dishes, goblets, jugs and candlesticks. Polychromic painting uses not only geometric and floral forms but the figures of fish and birds.


Palestine patterns

Hebron workshops follow ancient traditions, where the painter plays a leading role, designing each image and pattern, sometimes on paper, and sometimes directly onto tableware. Variations between initial drawings on paper and variants on tableware are yet to be studied. The exhibition also features woven and embroidered works.

The Ceramics of Palestine exhibition at the National Art Museum is being held as part of the Days of Palestinian Culture, being celebrated worldwide and coinciding with the birth of Mahmoud Darwish, a poet of Palestinian and global renown.

By Veniamin Velikhov
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