Jordan Times
Friday, October 6, 2006
Mosaic school to be
transformed into art, restoration institute
By Grace Peacock
AMMAN — The transformation of the Madaba Mosaic School into an art and
restoration institute will help Jordan catch up on its preservation efforts at a
time when archaeological discoveries far outweigh the available manpower needed
to protect the sites.
“Jordan suffers because we’ve had many archaeology sites discovered in past
years and several locations opened that cannot be maintained on a regular
basis,” said Catreena Hamarneh, acting director of Madaba Mosaic School.
“When you think of it, there’s too much that needs to be done,” she added,
estimating that there are 300 known mosaic sites in Jordan that are open to the
public. The number of closed sites and sites that have yet to be discovered, she
doesn’t know.
“The major locations like Jerash and Petra have no problem with site management,
but it’s the smaller ones that are scattered around the country that are
difficult to manage.”
Since opening in 1992, only 10 per cent of the school’s 83 graduates have gone
on to work in the mosaic or restoration sector. Those who take jobs in mosaic
production do so at a nontechnical level.
“This was not what we wanted,” said Hamarneh, who blames the restrictions
imposed on the curriculum by the Ministry of Education and the school’s status
as a vocational high school.
“There’s too much extra material, too many extra courses that prevent us from
focusing on restoration and conservation,” she said.
Starting in 2007, the school will be upgraded from a high school to a college of
higher education and a world centre for training in mosaic art and stone
restoration. Through the cooperation of the Department of Antiquities (DoA) and
the Unites States Agency for International Development, the new school will
offer four academic streams for post-Tawjihi students, postgraduates and
professionals.
Currently, the mosaic school accepts up to 15 students for its two-year diploma
programme after grade 10.
Hamarneh says the mosaic school appeals to prospective students because they are
encouraged to use the skills they develop to produce and sell their artwork.
Students can also attend the school free of charge, due to full funding from the
DoA.
“When we accept students we want to make sure we accept the most talented, not
the most rich. I have seen students come here who could not afford to buy their
own breakfast and then a year later they go on to open their own mosaic
workshop,” said Hamarneh.
The mosaic school is the only one of its kind in the entire Middle East region,
according to Fawwaz Khraysheh, director general of the DoA.
“If you go to France, Spain, Greece or Italy you will find many schools and
workshops for mosaics. But in the whole Arab region we have just two — one
workshop in Tunisia and the school here in Jordan,” he said, adding that there
is a real lack of skill in the restoration of mosaics in the Middle East.
Ahmad Qaswl, a former graduate of the school and current instructor, says the
school is a tribute to the country’s history.
“Mosaics are part of our cultural heritage — our ancestors’ and ours. If we did
not have an institute to teach us about the basics of protection and
preservation we could lose an important part of our cultural identity,” he said.
As part of their curriculum, students participate in restoring mosaic works
uncovered throughout Jordan in Madaba, Amman, Ajloun, Jerash, Petra and the
Baptism Site.
Hamarneh says the biggest threat to the preservation of mosaics is the influence
of the environment.
“In the 1980s and 1990s there was a lot of vandalism occurring at archaeology
sites and people were stealing mosaics,” she said.
“But perceptions are slowly changing and now the human threat is nearly gone.
Now we have to protect them from humidity, wind damage and start putting
shelters up.”
The DoA has recently required that all new site excavations must include a
comprehensive plan for site restoration. This should help ensure sites aren’t
left open to the elements, said Hamarneh, but there is still a large void to be
filled in mosaic restoration and preservation.
The launch of the Madaba Institute for Mosaic Art and Restoration is a part of
the USAID-supported Madaba Tourism Development Strategy, Siyaha, which seeks to
establish Madaba as a leading regional centre of study for the restoration,
conservation and production of mosaic art.