National Museum to highlight Berber culture

Manama, Apr. 13 (BNA): On the sidelines of the last day of the Berber Women of Morocco Expo, the Bahrain National Museum will host tomorrow in its auditorium a lecture conducted by Curator of the Berber Museum at the Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech Bjorn Dahlstrom, at 6:00pm. Dahlstrom will address the role played by the Berber Women at preserving the cultural heritage of those tribes, Berber Museum's importance and stages of establishments and future project related to the museum's documentation of Berber tribes' historical periods. The Berber (Amazigh) identity developed thousands of years ago on a vast territory that stretches from Morocco’s Atlantic coast to the borders of the eastern Maghreb. Over the millennia it has proven as remarkably resilient to cultural mixing with other Mediterranean civilizations as to various conquests. Throughout history, women have been the guardians of traditions and language, ensuring the preservation of the tribes’ cultural heritage. Transmission has been guaranteed by many symbols that can be found in weaving (the exclusive province of Berber women), jewelry, wickerwork, pottery, tattoos, and henna body painting. An invitation to travel into the heart of Morocco and Berber culture, the "Berber Women of Morocco" presents the most beautiful objects carpets, capes, woven belts, necklaces of amber and coral, silver fibulae predominantly from the sumptuous collection of the Jardin Majorelle’s Musée Berbère in Marrakech and Musée du Quai Branly in Paris - Together with stunning archival photographs, it is a tribute to the women who have never ceased transmitting the Berber culture’s singular identity.