In 1994, Riwaq initiated a
project to register historic buildings in Palestine:
Riwaq’s Registry of Historic Buildings. The registry
deals with one of the most endangered components of
cultural heritage and encompasses Palestine’s cultural,
natural, and architectural heritage in the West Bank
(including Arab Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. A vital
contribution, Riwaq’s Registry of Historic Buildings is
the first step in the long process of safeguarding
Palestinian cultural and natural heritage.
Although the British, Jordanians, Israelis, and
Palestinians have carried out several surveys of
archaeological sites in Palestine, this Registry
provides the first complete inventory of the historic
buildings in Palestine. The Registry is an encyclopedia
of architectural information on some 50,320 historic
buildings in 422 Palestinian localities–16 major cities,
including East Jerusalem, and 406 villages throughout
the 11 governorates in the West Bank and the 5
governorates in the Gaza Strip.
The Registry further archives more than 400 computerized
maps, which have been digitalized from their original
inaccurate paper version. Additionally, it includes more
than 45,000 photographs of old historic buildings and
is, therefore, an invaluable resource that not only
gathers information, but also corroborates it in
archived maps and photographs.
