Its windows are covered in plastic to keep out the rain that blows in from the nearby Mediterranean

While that is something, business is not as it once was. Its windows are covered in plastic to keep out the rain that blows in from the nearby Mediterranean. On a large table in the middle of the dark room stands a reproduction of a statue of Alexander the Great, looking as if it truly dated from 300 BC, amid oil-fired lamps and copies of coins dating back more than 2,500 years. Since then, traveling abroad has become much harder and life inside the territory has grown tougher, with restrictions on the import of goods and a series of short wars with Israel. “Some clients, some visitors, including scientists who have visited me, thought some of the pieces were real before I told them they were imitations made by own hand,” he said.

“I spend more than 10 hours a day here, sitting among my works and reproductions,” he said with a sense of wistfulness. Sometimes he restores pieces he finds and other times he uses the clay in a reproduction, treating the material in such a way that it looks to be centuries old. His room was lit by one small lamp, plugged into an extension cable that stretches from the floor below. He gives his work so much authenticity that international experts have been wowed by his skills.Abed, 55, is a self-taught archaeologist, preserver and restorer who crafts reproductions of ancient pieces he finds or has seen in museums.Napoleon and the Ottomans camped here and British armies passed through in World War One.” In 2007, the Islamist group Hamas seized control of Gaza.”. And none of it is real. To a visitor’s eye, everything looks ancient. One depicts a beautiful woman riding a charging bull, a copy of an original based in Naples, Italy.“He offered me a job at the museum, but I turned it down,” said Abed, making clear his regret.In his studio,

Abed works intensely on a range of mosaics. Beneath its sands lie ruins from Alexander the Great’s siege of the city, Emperor Hadrian’s visit, Mongol raids and the arrival of the Islamic armies 1,400 years ago.“My fixation with archaeology runs in my veins,” said the father of seven, who trained as a blacksmith before deciding 30 years ago to dedicate himself to a more refined art.“The Museum of Mosaics” is written on the wooden door that leads into his workroom.“I used to be visited by foreigners, by consuls and ambassadors, by international businessmen and tourists,” said Abed. “There are no foreigners nowadays.He has traveled to Jericho and Jenin in the West Bank to work with Italian and Dutch experts on archaeological sites there, and made trips to the Louvre in Paris and museums in Arles and Geneva to https://www.yolicable.net/product/lawn-mower-cable/ China throttle cable for lawn mower factory help with restorations.

In 2005, the head of the Geneva museum visited Gaza with his wife and talked at length with Abed about his skills.Another set of seven mosaics show the ancient gates to Palestine and there are also reproductions of pieces he has seen while visiting the Netherlands and France. By presidential decree, he was appointed deputy director of rehabilitation at the Palestinian Ministry of Archaeology in 1995 and he has also been in charge of the mosaic department.Over the millennia, Gaza has served as a trading port for ancient Egyptians, Philistines, Romans and Crusaders. The situation got bad.A fair-haired, intense man, he spends almost all his time in his studio, built on the roof of his unfinished house in a refugee camp in northern Gaza.Nafez Abed, 55, is a self-taught archaeologist, preserver and restorer who crafts reproductions of ancient pieces he finds or has seen in museums.

It is an emporium of West Asian antiquity tucked away in Gaza. museum quality As his skills grew, he gained wider acclaim. “It was a mistake. Nafez Abed’s cramped workroom is filled with sculptures and mosaics with patterns from the Byzantine, Greek and Roman periods.Most Gazans cannot afford his works, but Abed has a few local clients, including hotel owners and other wealthy people who want to decorate their homes with ancient-looking artefacts. Via extensive reading on archaeology in Arabic and English, he has developed a range of techniques for restoration and aging.Abed frequently tours Gaza’s beaches looking for ancient remains.It was Abed’s father who got him started, imbuing him with a love of antiquity and the rich ancient history of Gaza, where the blinded Biblical hero Samson lived