At the centre of Ramallah lies an old town of more than 200 historic buildings whose courtyards and alleys still stand. The planning unit at the Riwaq Centre prepared a conservation plan for the old town’s cultural heritage, defining the historic area and its heritage categories — historic buildings, courtyards and lanes.
Before that, Ramallah’s people farmed — olives especially — traded with neighbouring towns and villages, and worked in shoemaking, clothing, foodstuffs and pottery, until the early twentieth century brought migration to America.
Today plan and new building stand side by side; the task is to keep the old town alive by using it, not by leaving it to rust.
Source: “Ramallah” — Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramallah
Cover photo: أمين — Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
