Palestinian architectural studio AAU Anastas has crafted a poignant exhibition design for Treasures Rescued from Gaza: 5,000 Years of History, currently on display at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. Featuring 130 archaeological objects, the exhibition not only showcases millennia of cultural heritage from Gaza but also foregrounds the modern reality of displacement, storage, and interrupted return.
Designing for exile and memory
For AAU Anastas, a Bethlehem-based studio led by brothers Yousef and Elias Anastas, designing Treasures Rescued from Gaza was not simply about creating an elegant exhibition layout. Instead, it was about grappling with a haunting historical irony: 130 ancient artefacts, rescued from conflict and preserved in crates for nearly two decades, now find themselves in a liminal space—safe from destruction, yet estranged from their homeland.
Originally removed from Gaza in 2006 for a Swiss exhibition, the antiquities were trapped in storage ever since, unable to return due to the ongoing Israeli blockade. The Anastas brothers took this history of forced stasis as a starting point, building a visual and emotional language that channels both the aesthetics of storage and the politics of displacement.
“It’s not decent, in a way, to speak only about objects when people are dying,” Yousef Anastas told Dezeen, referencing the current humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. “But we thought about this dilemma, and we considered that archaeology is also a right. The objects are Palestinian. The scenography became a way of speaking about that reality.”
From crates to culture: a language of displacement
Rather than creating a conventional museum setting, AAU Anastas deliberately embraced an industrial, utilitarian aesthetic. Display cases are built from raw aluminium and mounted on castors, evoking the mobility of transport trolleys or storage crates. Lighting is deliberately even and stark—overhead LED tube lights mimic warehouse illumination, resisting theatricality and hierarchy.
Objects ranging from Bronze Age amphorae and oil lamps to Ottoman-era artefacts are shown collectively, with no piece granted elevated status. This decision—both conceptual and practical—highlights the shared origin of these items: the Gaza Strip, a land just 360 square kilometres in area, but dense with uninterrupted layers of human history.
“There is no sacralisation of one object over another,” Yousef Anastas explained. “Everything is seen together, always. This is about showing that all of these pieces come from one place, and they belong together.” By avoiding traditional museum cues, the Anastas brothers reject the idea of neutrality in exhibition design. Instead, they create a space that reminds viewers of the very conditions—violence, displacement, delay—that have shaped these objects’ recent lives.
The archaeology of now
Treasures Rescued from Gaza offers more than a retrospective view of Gaza’s ancient past; it also insists on the contemporary urgency of preservation. In a second gallery, the exhibition features new cartographic and photographic work by Milan-based graphic design studio Studio Folder. Their maps document archaeological sites across Gaza, many of which have been damaged or destroyed in the current conflict. Since 7 October 2023, UNESCO has verified damage to at least 110 heritage sites in the region.
This inclusion underlines one of the exhibition’s quiet but insistent messages: history is not static. It is being lost, reshaped, and rewritten in real time. Every broken amphora, every missing cornerstone, is part of a broader cultural erasure in progress.
For AAU Anastas, whose previous projects include research into stone architecture and installations at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the question of how to preserve material heritage is deeply personal and political. Their studio—The Wonder Cabinet in Bethlehem—operates at the intersection of design, research, hospitality, and media, reflecting a holistic approach to cultural stewardship.
The politics of presence
The decision to move forward with this exhibition in the context of an ongoing war was not taken lightly by its curators or designers. AAU Anastas admits to a sense of inner conflict, questioning whether an exhibition about objects could ever be appropriate while civilians are being displaced and killed.
Yet, the brothers argue, heritage is not a luxury—it is a right. The archaeological objects on display are not disconnected relics; they are material evidence of Palestinian history, culture, and presence. Their continued absence from Gaza is a form of exile, one that mirrors the experiences of so many Palestinians today.
“Imagine these pieces, so beautiful, sitting in storage for 20 years,” said Elias Anastas. “In our current times, their story must be told, constantly, until they can return.”This perspective transforms the exhibition into an act of resistance: against forgetting, against cultural erasure, and against the false separation of past and present. By embracing the language of storage and movement, the exhibition refuses to fossilize Gaza’s heritage. Instead, it insists on its ongoing relevance.
A temporary home for timeless artefacts
Running until 2 November 2025 at the Institut du Monde Arabe, Treasures Rescued from Gaza is as much about the present as it is about the past. With its bold, minimalist scenography and insistence on narrative transparency, AAU Anastas’ design invites viewers to reflect not only on 5,000 years of history, but also on the fragility of heritage in times of conflict.
It is a reminder that cultural objects are not just artefacts of beauty—they are vessels of memory, identity, and belonging. And until they can return to their rightful home, they must continue to speak.
Exhibition details:
Exhibition: Treasures Rescued from Gaza: 5,000 Years of History
Design: AAU Anastas
Graphic design and mapping: Studio Folder
Venue: Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris
Dates: 27 May – 2 November 2025
Photography: Salem Mostefaoui
