Saved Treasures of Gaza: 5000 Years of History

Unknown ceramicist, Crouching Dromedary carry Four Amphorae, 6th century, Saved Treasures of Gaza exhibition.

The tragic events of the 20th and 21st centuries until the present war have swept away the history of Gaza, an ancient oasis, a place of passage and contact open to the world. Who remembers that Gaza, born from the meeting of sand and sea, has had a prestigious past uninterrupted since the Bronze Age? The hundred or so works on display in this exhibition take us through the Canaanite, Egyptian, Philistine, Neo-Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Arab civilizations of this narrow coastal strip. The wealth of this oasis, once praised for its prosperity and gentle way of life, coveted for its strategic position, a haven for caravan traders and a port for treasures from Arabia, Africa and the Mediterranean, is now in great jeopardy.

The exhibition aims to preserve the cultural heritage of Gaza, which is under threat from the ongoing war, and to educate visitors about its long history beyond modern conflicts. The artifacts, which were held in Geneva for nearly two decades, include a sixth-century Byzantine mosaic, 4,000-year-old ceramics, and a marble statue of Aphrodite.