Palestine’s oldest olive tree symbol of cultural heritage
Stories about al-Badawi olive tree, the oldest olive tree in Palestine, emerge with every olive season, as people debate its age and how long it can live.
Welcome to the New Levant Initiative
The New Levant Initiative exists to recapture and reinvigorate the unique Levantine identity, shed a light on the roots of enlightenment and culture, and create momentum for the New Levant – one that is empowered with its cultural and historical achievements.
Artists and literary figures of the 19th century painted a mainly Romantic picture of the Levant, as the watercolors of the Scottish painter David Roberts or Travels in the Orient by Alphonse di Lamartine bear out. But it really does exist, this legendary region between sea, mountains and desert, characterized by specific landscapes, kinds of people, vegetation and cultures.
Authors: Pierre-Louis Gatier, et al.
From the Levant: History and Archaeology in the Eastern Mediterranean
Diversity and flexibility were the essence of Levantine cities. They could be escapes from the prisons of nationality and religion. In these cities between worlds, people switched identities as easily as they switched languages.
Author: Philip Mansel
Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe on the Mediterranean
