FROM THE EDITOR
Heritage Reclaimed, Identity Co-Created
Hope, Undiminished
This issue was not easy to shape. Not because of the editorial challenges— but because of what the world looked like as we shaped it.
Two covers frame it— and they are meant to be read together. The first speaks to hope: that even in the darkest moments, our heritage is what holds us together— embodied in Sliman Mansour’ s painting of a white dove above a Palestinian village, made in 1985 and never more relevant. The second speaks to the future: that heritage and identity are not simply artistic expressions but strategic assets, and that Saudi Arabia’ s museum ecosystem is today one of the most powerful illustrations of that argument in the Arab world. We were editing articles about belonging while communities across the Arab world were having their security threatened and many displaced from the places that formed them. We were preparing a feature on Saudi Arabia’ s museum renaissance while, a few hundred kilometers away, Haneen Al- Omsi was lifting manuscript fragments from the rubbles with her bare hands. Building and rescuing— the same refusal to let heritage disappear.
This is the Arab world as it is right now: building and mourning, creating and losing, all at once. This is precisely why Matahef exists— to hold the full picture, without simplifying what is hard or dimming what is hopeful.
Culture does not wait for peace to matter. It matters most when everything else is under threat. A manuscript rescued from rubble, a painting made in the shadow of occupation, a photograph of a destroyed village: these do not erase suffering— they help societies understand it, by turning trauma into memory, and memory into reflection— a light held steady against the wind.
For the first time, Matahef features a reprint, graciously approved by the Museum publication of the American Alliance of Museums, of“ Reopening with Purpose,” a practical account of The Frick Collection’ s visitor experience framework and a valuable resource for museum professionals across our region.
A salute to a remarkable season of openings. The National Museum of Libya reopened in December after more than a decade of closure— a new beginning for a country still finding its footing. In Syria, the Hasakah Museum opened its doors after 24 years of delays and military occupation, returning an irreplaceable archaeological collection to the public. In Riyadh, the newly inaugurated Black Gold Museum reinterprets the story of oil through a human and creative lens, where contemporary art meets one of the most transformative forces shaping our world. In Doha, Qatar unveiled the Lawh Wa Qalam: M. F. Husain Museum— more than 150 works by the Indian Modernist often called the“ Picasso of India,” and a long-overdue tribute.
This issue is, in every sense, a co-creation— made possible by writers, artists, directors, researchers, and volunteers who gave generously under circumstances that would have justified giving nothing at all.
The work of culture is long. It outlasts festivals, openings, moments of celebration. What remains is the institution— and the people who build it, sustain it, and refuse to let it disappear. This issue is dedicated to them.
Across this issue, a single question recurs: how do museums transform from gatekeepers of the past into platforms where young people co-create belonging? Glenn Lowry reminds us that the most enduring museums are built not fastest, but with the clearest sense of purpose. Mikey Muhanna of AFIKRA answers with the unguarded confidence of youth. Salim Eddé of the mim Mineral Museum, Dr. Basel Dalloul of the Dalloul Art Foundation, and Darat al Funun’ s Luma Hamdan and Khaled Al-Bashir each offer a different answer— through persistence, collection, and several decades of quiet institution-building.
Randa Mirza’ s Atlal transforms photographs of the 2024 bombardment of south Lebanon into something beyond documentation: an act of resistance, and a space for reflection. The Guardians feature, Issa Makhlouf’ s essay on Genius of a Place, Prof. Marinos Ioannides on digital heritage, and Sarah Nunn on museum education remind us, in different registers, that preservation is fought on many frontlines— and that none of them is minor.
Michèle Anbar Founder & Editor in Chief
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