Penn Museum’s Iraqi Cultural Day—Saturday, March 8 in Conjunction with One Book, One Philadelphia Project—“The Librarian of Basra” |
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March 4, 2014, Volume 60, No. 25 |
The rich sights, flavors, arts and traditions of Iraq—ancient and modern—converge Saturday, March 8, 1-4 p.m., when the Penn Museum presents Iraqi Cultural Day. The special afternoon is a featured part of this year's citywide One Book, One Philadelphia joint project of the Mayor's Office and the Free Library of Philadelphia.
Nearly 700 Iraqis have resettled in Philadelphia, helping to inspire a family-friendly afternoon of food, cultural dress demonstrations and fine arts and photographic displays. The day's lineup also includes children's crafts and activities, including a group reading of The Librarian of Basra, a 2014 One Book, One Philadelphia family reading selection.
At the centerpiece of the day is Iraq's Ancient Past: Rediscovering Ur's Royal Cemetery, the Penn Museum's exhibition that features more than 220 ancient artifacts discovered at and excavated from the ancient Royal Cemetery at Ur, located in present-day southern Iraq. Visitors can see painstakingly conserved artifacts including the Ram-Caught-in-the-Thicket, the impressive headdress of Ur's Queen Puabi, along with many of her lavish burial goods, including extraordinary jewelry and other artifacts of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, carnelian and alabaster. Also on display is the famous Bull-Headed Lyre front piece with its inlaid lapis lazuli and shell mosaic.
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Guests to Iraqi Cultural Day at the Penn Museum on March 8 can seeQueen Puabi's Headdress, beaded cape and jewelry (includes comb, hair rings, wreaths, hair ribbons, and earrings) of gold, lapis lazuli, and carnelian, from the Royal Cemetery of Ur, ca. 2550 BCE, as part of the exhibition Iraq’s Ancient Past: Rediscovering Ur’s Royal Cemetery. Photo: Penn Museum. |
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Iraqi Cultural Day, co-sponsored by the Philadelphia Refugee Mental Health Collaborative and the One Book, One Philadelphia project, is free with Museum admission donation ($15, general admission; $13, seniors [65+]; $10, children [6-17] and full-time students [with ID]; free to children under 6, members, active US Military and PennCard holders).
An Array of Activities
From 1 to 2 p.m., Irene Plantholt, graduate student in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania, shows guests some of the Museum's 30,000 clay tablets inscribed in Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform. Visitors can compare their handwriting and note-taking abilities to the collection of school tablets, literary compositions, legal tablets and merchant receipts ranging from 2900 to 500 BCE. Guests also have the opportunity to make their own cuneiform tablets from clay.
Iraqi cuisine is heavily influenced by Syrian, Lebanese, Turkish and Iranian cultures. Guests can learn about figs and their significance to Iraqi culture and popular dishes featuring eggplant and tabbouli, during a delicious food demonstration at 1:30 p.m.
At 2:30 p.m., Dr. C. Brian Rose, Mediterranean Section curator, explains historic and current efforts to preserve Iraq's cultural past, including the Penn Museum's and the British Museum's joint expedition and astonishing discovery of a 4,500-year-old royal cemetery at the ancient site of Ur.
A group reading of The Librarian of Basra, a children's companion book to the 2014 One Book, One Philadelphia selection, The Yellow Birds, starts at 3:15 p.m. All families are invited to gather and listen to this true account of a community saving their library from destruction. An interpreter translates the story into Arabic for a bilingual experience.
Throughout the day, guests can take an arts stroll to meet painter Mayyadah Alhumssi and other fine artists, view photographic works, dress in Iraqi attire and learn to write Arabic.
The Philadelphia Refugee Mental Health Collaborative, providing most of the afternoon's presenters through its Friendships Across Cultures women's program, is a group of resettlement agencies, mental health providers, physicians and arts organizations working to link refugees in the city of Philadelphia to culturally and linguistically appropriate mental health care. Specifically, the "Friendships Across Cultures" program pairs Iraqi refugees with local retirees for cross-cultural learning opportunities.
Founded in 2003 by the Free Library and the Mayor's Office, One Book, One Philadelphia motivates tens of thousands of people to read the featured selection and participate in discussions, events, workshops, classes and more. All Free Library locations have several hard copies of The Yellow Birds—as well as the middle-grade companion book, Children of War: Voices of Iraqi Refugees and children's companion book, The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq—for customers to borrow with a Free Library card. In addition, the Free Library has The Yellow Birds available as an eBook for download from its website. The book will also be available in audio format as a CD and as a downloadable audio file at www.freelibrary.org
Iraqi Cultural Day Schedule
1-2 p.m.–Cuneiform Tablets Station
1:30-2 p.m.–Food Demonstration
2:30-3 p.m.–Talk: Preserving Iraq's Cultural Past
3:15-4 p.m.–2014 One Book, One Philadelphia Children's Reading: The Librarian of Basra
All Afternoon Events–Cultural Dress
Demonstrations,
Fine Arts Display,
Writing and Photography Display,
Children's Crafts
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The Penn Museum’s Iraqi Cultural Day on March 8 includes a fine arts display of works by painter Mayyadah Alhumssi , including “Babylon Lion” —and works by other Iraqi artists. Photo: Mayyadah Alhumssi. |
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The Penn Museum’s Iraqi Cultural Day on March 8 includes a fine arts display of works by painter Mayyadah Alhumssi, including “Crying Iraq”— and works by other Iraqi artists. Photo: Mayyadah Alhumssi. |
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The Penn Museum’s Iraqi Cultural Day on March 8 includes a fine arts display of works by painter Mayyadah Alhumssi , including “Old Baghdad—and works by other Iraqi artists. Photo: Mayyadah Alhumssi. |
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Everyone can learn about some of the oldest writing in the world, at a cuneiform tablets station, during Iraqi Cultural Day at the Penn Museum on March 8. Photo: Penn Museum. |
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