Draft:Muthaf Aydi Tarabin

• Comment: This starts off as an interesting article and it is quite likely that Tarabin is notable and should have a Wikipedia article. However, the article is extremely long and the section on his career with all the Cultural Diplomacy subsections is very strange - at one point these subsections become about the Ayed Tarabin Museum instead of about the person. Could you please revise the article to focus on the person? Please also check the rules for notability and make sure you clearly show why he is notable. Lijil (talk) 22:51, 21 June 2025 (UTC)

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Muthaf Ayed Tarabin (1975-) is a Palestinian researcher specializing in museology, born in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He is the founder of the "Academy of Palestinian and Arab Museology" and the "Heritage From the Fragrance of the Land" Museum in Paris. He is known as the faithful guardian of Palestinian heritage, and is considered one of the most prominent Arab figures in the field of documenting cultural and ethnographic heritage worldwide. He holds a PhD in Museology from the Sorbonne University in Paris.

He is a fifth-generation descendant of Dr. Hakima Aydi Tarabin, founder of the first official museum in Palestine, "Heritage Comes from the Scent of the Land," in 1790, officially recognized by the Ottoman Empire in 1885 and by the British Mandate in 1929. He is a cousin of Othman Aydi, known for his activities in Syria and France, where he played an unofficial diplomatic role, considered Syria's unofficial ambassador to France. His first name, chosen for him by his grandmother Halima, means "museum." After six years of work with the International Council of Museums (ICOM), he participated in the establishment of the ICOM Palestine Committee, where he served as coordinator of private and public museums inside and outside Palestine.

his life

Dr. Muthaf was born into a Palestinian Bedouin family belonging to the Aydi Tarabin tribe, historically known for its prominent role in medicine, the judiciary, and cultural studies. His name carries a unique symbolic significance. His grandmother, physician Halima Ayed Tarabin (1894–2014), named him "Muthaf," reflecting a historical family bequest to continue carrying on a great cultural legacy of protecting and promoting Palestinian heritage globally. His grandmother dedicated his life to this goal from a young age, sending him to Russia, France, and Switzerland to study museology, as part of an educational vision that combined culture, identity, and international diplomacy.

He has theoretical and practical experience in international cultural diplomacy, developed through his experience in Russian, Japanese, French, and Swiss museology. On his grandmother's recommendation, he trained in museum practice at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, where he was supervised by Mikhail Piotrovsky, the museum's director, who trained him to become an expert on Palestinian heritage and culture, from the Ottoman era to the present day. His area of ​​expertise is Palestinian textiles, embroidery, costumes, jewelry, and amulets. Since 2022, he has been enrolled in a doctoral program at the Sorbonne University, where he is writing a dissertation on the topic of "Clothing, Ornaments, Personal Belongings, and Objects of Popular Belief from the Ottoman Period to the End of the British Mandate in Palestinian Private Collections: Heritage and Memorial Architecture." He is also involved in medical research, particularly in the fields of surgery, massage therapy, physiotherapy, and the study of medicinal plants.

Since 2000, he has been working to recognize Palestinian museology as an integral academic field within public museology. This concept, conceived and developed by his family, is based on social, cultural, and medical foundations dating back to at least the end of the 18th century. In 2022, he established the École des Musées Palestiniennes et Arabes in Paris, of which he is the director. His contribution to the preservation of Palestinian heritage in Palestine and internationally has been officially recognized. In September 2024, he was appointed representative of the General Union of Historians and Archaeologists of Palestine in Europe, and in May 2025, ambassador of the archival community to the European Union, the Swiss Confederation, and the Russian Federation.

His career

Cultural Diplomacy Education in Palestine

The Idi Tarabin Museum was appointed by his grandmother, Halima Idi Tarabin, the last director of the Abq Al Ard Heritage Museum, to represent Palestinian and Arab culture and heritage internationally. He has specialized in Palestinian and Levantine history and museums since 2000, and is an expert on Palestinian heritage and culture from the Ottoman era to the present day. His work focuses on Palestinian textiles, embroidery, costumes, jewelry, and amulets.

His initial training was passed on to him by his grandmother. This comprehensive cultural training was based on traditional Bedouin knowledge (history, poetry, medicine, crafts, livestock, and agriculture), critical thinking, and interfaith and intercultural immersion, with assignments with Samaritan, Muslim, and Christian families. The first name, "Mathaf," meaning "museum" in Arabic, was given to him symbolically. Mathaf's first introduction to museology came from his grandmother, who taught him how to identify, date, and preserve objects from the family collection since 1970. For the first ten years of his life, his social interactions were limited to people over the age of one hundred, in accordance with an educational principle that emphasizes listening to elders and the intergenerational transfer of knowledge.

In 2005, the museum joined the Cultural Council of the Palestinian Ministry of Culture. In 2022, it received written support from His Excellency Ambassador Mounir Anastas, Permanent Delegate of the State of Palestine to UNESCO, to support the establishment of the Palestinian and Arab Museum School in Paris.

Cultural Diplomacy in Russia

Ayed Tarabin grew up alongside Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum and President of the Russian Union of Museums, where he acquired a solid theoretical and practical knowledge of international cultural diplomacy through museology. He was integrated into a program supervised by the Hermitage Youth Education Center, a course that forms part of the continuity of educational initiatives started by his grandmother, Halima Ayed Tarabin. There, he deepened his knowledge of European history, art, culture, and international cultural diplomacy. He studied museology at university and earned a Master's degree with honors from the Saint Petersburg State Institute of Culture, becoming the first Palestinian and Arab to receive this distinction. During his time at the Hermitage Museum, he met international cultural figures, such as Hugo de Chavagnac, the French Consul General in Saint Petersburg, Geraldine Norman, Mikhail Piotrovsky's advisor and the director of the Friends of the Hermitage Foundation in the United Kingdom, as well as Italian museum officials such as Maurizio Ciacconi, Executive Director of the Hermitage Foundation in Italy, and Paolo Giulerini, Director General of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. These interactions enriched his understanding of European cultures and enhanced his skills in cultural diplomacy. In 2016, the Museum became a member of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS) on the personal recommendation of Sergei Vadimovich Stepashin, and in 2019, he joined the Russian delegation to ICOM on the personal recommendation of Mikhail Piotrovsky, receiving a membership card similar to the Museum's diplomatic passport. Through this status, he has collected archives on Palestinian heritage, including documents from the Ottoman Empire, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union, in collaboration with Russian institutions such as the Hermitage Museum and the IOPS.

Cultural Diplomacy in Japan

In 2019, Mathaf participated in the International Council of Museums (ICOM) General Conference in Kyoto as a specialist on Palestinian and Levantine history and museums from the Hermitage Museum in Russia. This event enabled him to establish contacts with heritage specialists from various countries, including François Meris, a recognized museologist and former president of the International Museums Committee of ICOM from 2013 to 2019. During his stay in Japan, he explored numerous public and private museum collections that promote Palestinian material heritage. He is particularly interested in the collections held by Japanese institutions, including the Osaka Ethnographic Museum. The latter possesses a significant collection of Palestinian objects—including furniture, jewelry, amulets, and embroidered textiles—acquired in the 1970s from the collector Widad Kawar. This discovery led to collaborations with Japanese curators. Furthermore, he identified numerous travel diaries written by Japanese visitors to Palestine in the two centuries, which provide additional analytical material on Palestinian cultural practices and daily life in these periods.

Cultural Diplomacy in France

Since 2022, Mathaf has been enrolled in the doctoral program at the Sorbonne-Panthéon University. Her dissertation focuses on traditional clothing, jewelry, and objects associated with popular beliefs, from the beginning of the Ottoman era to the end of the British Mandate, in public and private collections. Her research aims to analyze the heritage and memorial construction around these objects. In the same year, she founded the École des Musées Palestiniennes et Arabes en Paris, a private, non-profit institution established in 2022 and located in the 8th arrondissement. The facility houses a library, archive, and publishing house, as well as the ethnographic collection L'Héritage vient du Parfum de la Terre, which his family saved after 1948.

In Paris, he met with numerous actors in the cultural sector – academics, diplomats, heritage experts, and representatives of associations – who supported him in developing projects related to the preservation and promotion of Palestinian cultural heritage.

Cultural Diplomacy in Türkiye

In 2021, the Museum participated in the International Symposium on the History of Health in Ottoman Palestine at Al-Biruni University in Istanbul, presenting its ethnographic research on Negev Bedouin medicine and amulets from the last two centuries of Ottoman rule in Palestine, using the example of the Museum "Heritage from the Fragrant Land." On this occasion, the Republic of Turkey reaffirmed the official recognition of the Family Museum by the Ottoman Empire in 1885.

Cultural Diplomacy in Switzerland

Concerned with promoting mutual understanding, the museum has been studying the contributions of Protestant scholars to ethnographic research on the Holy Land since 2024. It has collaborated with key figures in the field of Palestinian ethnography, including Thomas Staubli, curator of the Museum of the Bible + Orient at the University of Fribourg and editor of Isaac Alhroub's Atlas of Palestinian Rural Heritage, as well as Stephanie Lovasz, curator of the Museum of Cultures in Basel. It also met Al-Abed, curator of the Bedouin collection at the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich and wife of the late Elisabeth Biasio, who contributed significantly to documenting the 523 objects of Bedouin culture in the Negev preserved in the university museum. Her work culminated in the publication of the book Beduinen im Neguev: Vom Zelt ins Haus. In September 2024, the Ethnographic Museum of Zurich invited Ayed Tarabin to give a lecture on how to read and understand the social history of Palestinian Bedouins through their costumes during the closing program of the exhibition "Works of Art? 5 Questions on Embroidery from the Negev." In addition, the museum met with Margarita Skinner, author of two reference books on Palestinian embroidery, and Brigitte Schön, representative of the Widad Kawar House of Arab Dress in Europe.

Cultural Diplomacy in Jordan

Mathaf has been participating in the census of private and public collections of Palestinian heritage in Jordan since 2021. It met with several actors who play an important role in the Jordanian Palestinian cultural scene, including cultural journalist Nidal Burqan, international consultant Reem Bseiso, and art collectors Widad Kawar, Hanna Siddiq, Samir Abu Deheis, Ali Nasser, Samih Masoud, and Amal Issa, a Palestinian diplomat from Jaffa who studied and worked in Paris and established the Al-Mubarakoun Al-Saghir Cultural Center in Amman, which has an art collection of approximately 100 Palestinian dresses. It was founded and inherited from his mother, and a portion of it was donated to the Palestinian and Arab Museum Association (EMPEA). In March 2025, Mathaf participated in two conferences on Palestinian heritage and the construction of memorials at Al-Mubarakoun headquarters and the Beit Shuqair Cultural Center. It discussed the essential role played by the women of his tribe as "keepers of memory" in preserving Palestinian Bedouin heritage, as well as the role of EMPEA in building and preserving Palestinian memory. In May 2025, the museum was invited to the second conference of Jerusalem historians, "Where is Jerusalem Going?" organized by the Talal Center for Jerusalem Studies in Amman, where it discussed the importance of studying and preserving Jerusalem's heritage as an integral part of Palestinian museums.

International cultural diplomacy

The Idi Tarabin Museum participates in efforts to preserve Palestinian cultural heritage through several national and international institutions. It has been a member of the Cultural Council of the Palestinian Ministry of Culture since 2005 and is also active in the International Council of Museums (ICOM). In 2025, it participated in the historic establishment of the Palestinian delegation to ICOM Palestine, the first after several failed attempts led by prominent figures such as Tawfiq Kanaan. This project was implemented in coordination with the ICOM Diplomatic Services in Paris and the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, and in cooperation with the Scientific Committee of the National Collections Register. Among those involved in this project are Dr. Awni Shawamreh, member of the Scientific Committee of the National Collections Register; Ambassador Munir Anastas, former Permanent Representative of Palestine to UNESCO in Paris; Ambassador Safwat Ibragheeth, current Representative; Professor Dr. Sharqi Dahmali, President of the Arab Museums Organization; and Engineer Rashid Bukhash, Vice President of the same organization. At the same time, the Ayed Tarabin Museum collaborates with numerous international cultural and heritage institutions and is affiliated with the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, the International Council on Archives (ICA), and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), where it participates in the preservation of Palestinian archives and antiquities. Its work reflects a collaborative approach to promoting Palestinian heritage on the global stage.

Since September 2024, the Ayed Tarabin Museum has represented the General Union of Historians and Archaeologists in Palestine on the European continent. In May 2025, it was appointed Ambassador of the archival community to the European Union, the Swiss Confederation, and the Russian Federation. Its activities in the field of protecting Palestinian cultural heritage have received institutional support, both in Palestine and internationally.

Developing Palestinian Museology

The Ayed Tarabin Museum is associated with the development of the academic concept of Palestinian museology, a field developed by his family since the 1790s and introduced into academia since 2000. Palestinian museology is an academic concept that defines the narrative, educational, pedagogical, philosophical, and scientific orientation, as well as the artistic, legal, and administrative organization of Palestinian heritage collections. It is an independent field within the specialized discipline of museology. This approach is tailored to the unique characteristics of Palestine, in terms of its cultural heritage, history, and identity, as well as its economic and social framework. It aims to theorize the roles of Palestinian museums and develop the means to achieve them. Palestinian museology aims to preserve the past and care for the present in the spirit of protecting the health of humanity, in the same way that medicine cares for the body and actively works towards a prosperous future for humanity. Palestinian museology gives museums an important place within Palestinian society, such that both the population and academia can rely on them to protect and promote Palestinian cultural identity. This foundation was born from a family vision built on long-term institutional goals, founded on mutual understanding, peace, and rapprochement between peoples. Its commitment is primarily aimed at preserving Palestinian heritage as a fundamental element of the world's heritage. It also aims to participate in the transfer of knowledge and culture to new generations around the world, helping to spark their curiosity and pave the way toward lasting peace on an international scale.

Museums around the world often lack detailed information on Palestinian archaeological and ethnographic objects, which are often categorized under broad or vague labels such as "objects from the Middle East," "from the Islamic world," or "Arab objects." This problem stems largely from the lack of experts specialized in Palestinian museology, particularly in the field of ethnographic objects. In this context, the Eddie Tarabin Museum focuses on documenting, curating, and evaluating Palestinian objects dating from 1517 to 1948. Its activity involves collaborating with public and private institutions to exchange specialized knowledge, facilitate the identification of artifacts, and network researchers and curators working in Palestinian museums. This work aims to fill some of the scholarly gaps, strengthen cultural mediation tools, and contribute to the reconstruction and transmission of Palestinian collective memory.

The Ayed Tarabin Museum's commitment to developing this concept has been recognized by universities, governments, and institutions around the world: in the French Republic, the Russian Federation, the Swiss Confederation, Japan, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Republic of Turkey, and the State of Palestine.

In 2021, the Ayed Tarabin Museum officially presented Palestinian museology in Amman at a forum organized by the Ministry of Culture of the State of Palestine entitled "New Approaches to Building a National Historical Narrative for Palestine and the Region." In March 2023, it also promoted this field of research at an international conference in Bethlehem on history, archaeology, and cultural heritage, where it presented its research on several rare pieces from the collection of Maha Al-Sakka (Mrs. Maha Al-Sakka), a renowned collector of Palestinian and Bedouin costumes from Bethlehem. This research, titled "Palestinian Amulets and Jewelry as a Source for Palestinian Museums: The Bethlehem Governorate Model," provides a practical model for Palestinian museology.

His achievements

• The "Heritage From the Fragrance of the Land" Museum was established in Paris in 2022, commemorating the original museum established by his great-grandmother, Dr. Hakima Ayed Tarabin, in the village of Ghazala, north of Beersheba, in 1790. The museum houses approximately 10,000 pieces documenting aspects of Palestinian life before 1948, including more than 250 traditional dresses, a collection of jewelry and popular medical instruments, old stamps, coins, and banknotes, and archives dating back to the seventeenth century, in addition to a library containing more than 1,000 books. The museum is an active research center that welcomes scholars, researchers, and graduate students, and is dedicated to presenting Palestinian heritage as part of the global human heritage.
• The Palestinian Academy of Museum Studies was established, an officially licensed research institution based in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, just minutes from the Louvre Museum. The institution aims to develop museum studies within the Palestinian and Arab context and promote it as an internationally recognized academic field that combines ethnographic research, cultural documentation, and cultural diplomacy.
• Dr. Tarabin Museum worked with French researcher Clementina Poli for 15 years to publish an extensive book documenting: (The biography and history of the Ayed Tarabin family, the development of Palestinian museology, the role the family played in protecting heritage and pilgrimage routes, the impact of the Nakba on Palestinian heritage, and the philosophy of heritage as a tool for cultural resistance).

His contributions

He has a number of contributions, including:

• He serves as the European representative of the General Union of Archaeological Historians in Palestine, and the International Coordinator at the International Council of Museums (ICOM) of UNESCO on behalf of ICOM Palestine.
• Through the Academy and Museum, it works to build bridges of cultural understanding between peoples, and considers Palestinian heritage to be part of the comprehensive human heritage.
• He succeeded in achieving recognition by several European countries for Palestinian museology as an independent and integrated academic field.

The family's influence on him

The women of the family played a central role in his career, particularly physician Hakima Ayed Tarabin, who founded the first Palestinian museum in 1790, and physician Halima Ayed Tarabin, who dedicated her life to preserving Bedouin heritage and medicine. Dr. Mathaf's research highlights the close link between heritage preservation and the continuity of collective memory and Palestinian identity.