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Riwaq 's Registry of Historic Buildings in Palestine (1994-2006)
The Registry which lasted for more than ten years, involved hundreds of university students and tens of architects and archeologist. It is considered one of Riwaq's main prides. The registry (to be released early 2007) includes inventory information about 50,320 buildings located in 16 main towns and 406villages in eleven west bank districts and five districts in Gaza Strip.
In addition to its valuable architectural information: description of buildings, materials and details, typology of construction and roofs, the physical and structural conditions of buildings, the Registry include digital maps; all hard paper maps have been checked in the field, modified and finally digitized. Now and for the first time Palestine has a digital map archive of all its sites.
The third valuable component of Riwaq's Registry is its photography archive which includes over 45,000 photos.
In addition to it being a valuable historic document of what Palestine looked like at the end of the twentieth century, the Registry proved to be a useful tool for researchers, planners of historic centers as well as for conservation projects.
In the summer of 1994, RIWAQ launched its National Registry
project, and began registering all buildings and historic sites which
date earlier than 1945. Since then, almost 50000 buildings and sites,
which have been constructed with traditional methods and materials
before the introduction of modern materials, have been registered.
This registry helps recognize valuable buildings and creates a data
base flexible to discussion, development and editing. The data base
was established using a program that allows the user accessibility to
the exact piece of information sought. This data base includes
information on the site, names of the original and present owners, use
of property, a description of the façade, construction material, date of
construction, additions, site plan, photographs, a description of the
surrounding environment, the historic or architectural value of the
building or site, and other information according to surveys constructed
particularly for this National Record.
 This project has incorporated, over the past years, a large group of
architecture and archaeology students from Bir Zeit University, Al Najah
University in Nablus, The Islamic University in Gaza and The Polytechnic
in Hebron, along with the team responsible for recording the complete
surveys on computer.
This Registry plays a vital role in identifying the protection areas,
also in creating work plans towards drafting laws, which will protect
the cultural and architectural properties in Palestine; these will be
incorporated in the planning and urban developing programs on all
levels. RIWAQ aspires, through the National Registry, to enhance
communal awareness regarding the importance of this treasure of
historic buildings.
The National Registry project, which started in 1994, continues.
All material was examined and made ready for publication, also
work was resumed to complete the registration of buildings.
In this context the following was achieved:
Organization and cataloguing of all related files.
Cataloguing and computerizing of all photographs of buildings
and sites
All site plans and photographs were collected and catalogued in
preparation to connect them with the data base and images on
the Geographic Information System [GIS] programme to ensure
easy access for research and planning purposes.
Lists of surveyed sites were created, the number of buildings in
each site were recorded and ensured the availability of related
maps.
Following up and developing the information system so that it
achieves its purpose (various reports, easy entry of information
and accessibility . . . etc.). All different records of buildings and
sites were unified to create a comprehensive National Registry.
The various data bases brought together were: RIWAQ's, which
is the largest, the data base of Hebron City, of the old city of
Jerusalem and the Cultural Resources Management Project.
The site lists were compared with other lists (those of the Cultural
Resources Management Project) to eliminate common surveyed
sites. Consequently, a list of sites not yet surveyed will be
created according to the lists from the Palestinian Central
Statistics Department.
The total of the old buildings surveyed and recorded since the
beginning of the project is 49065 in 406 sites distributed on various
districts according to the following table:
| District | Number of Buildings | Number of Sites |
| Jenin | 5330 | 83 |
| Toubas | 547 | 10 |
| Tulkarem | 3216 | 29 |
| Nablus | 9315 | 49 |
| Qalqilyeh | 1264 | 18 |
| Salfit | 1592 | 17 |
| Ramallah & Al Bireh | 7597 | 70 |
| Jerusalem | 7025 | 30 |
| Jericho | 518 | 8 |
| Bethlehem | 2581 | 17 |
| Hebron | 9630 | 69 |
| Gaza District | 450 | 6 |
 This table represents the work achieved since the beginning of the
project. It also includes the work executed with other organizations,
such as Welfare Association (CDC) between the years 1998 - 1999 on
the old city of Jerusalem, the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee on the
old city of Hebron, also the Cultural Resources Management project
which was executed by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of
Tourism and Antiquities in cooperation with PECDAR between the years
1999 - 2000. RIWAQ has prepared this material for publication.
The sum of completed work constitutes more than 80% of the total
work, the rest is divided on 237 sites in various districts. Most of these
sites are small residential areas. It is not expected that a big number
of valuable buildings will be found there. Based on the opinions of the
local inhabitants, the speculations are that the number of valuable
buildings will range between 4000 and 5000 old buildings.
The work on recording these sites continued against curfews and
street closures, which hindered the movement between cities and
villages and consequently obstructed field work. Nonetheless, a total
of 19 new sites has been surveyed in the past two years, 5 in Ramallah
and Al Bireh district and 14 in Jerusalem district. 1677 old buildings
have been located. All the information has been recorded and the plans
computerized and examined.
RIWAQ will publish the results of the National Registry during the
year 2003.
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