The al-Mintar Collection
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PERIOD

1784 - 1969

ITEMS

BIOGRAPHY

Al-Mintar Museum is located on 14 dunums in nature, which is the land of the resort that includes the Museum on the top of al-Mintar Mountain, east of Tulkarm. The importance of the Museum lies in the memories it carries of the Palestine Great Rebellion 1936-39 when the Syrian leader Fawzi al-Qawuqji fought the British forces that were passing through the Hijaz Railway in the same place. The idea of the Museum was initiated by its owner, Bassam "Badran Badran", as he had an idea that led him to a unique way of responding to the Zionist saying "A land without a people for a people without a land". Therefore, since 1972, Badran and his wife have taken it upon themselves to collect folklore items from Palestinian cities and villages. The Museum was built from old stones collected from the remnants of old demolished houses and contains many rare artefacts, such as the bell that bears the name of the famous ship "Titanic", the ancient light signal that was used at night to guide the Hejaz train passing through Palestine on its way from Turkey to Egypt, or agricultural holdings and ancient copper and pottery tools.

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DESCRIPTION

The al-Mintar Collection contains photographs and documents that covered the social and economic life of the Palestinians between 1919 and 1969, and documented the economic life through bank transactions, such as cheques from Barclays Bank in 1919, cheques from the Nation Bank in Haifa, and another from the Arab Bank in Yafa, a request form for obtaining a chequebook from the Nation Bank and receipts of tax payments in the 1940s and 1960s, such as a payment receipt for a kindergarten in 1936.
As for the manifestations of social life, it was covered by a diary of a resident of Tulkarm for the year 1940, in which he recounted the details of his daily activities and movements between Palestinian cities, a daily programme for one of the children’s activities in 1939 in Arabic, English and Hebrew, and an identity card issued by the Mandate Government of Palestine.

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The al-Mintar Collection

FROM THE COLLECTION