My ITP experience (Lotfi Belhouchet, Tunisia, ITP 2022)

Written by Lotfi Belhouchet, Director of Museographic Development Division, the National Institute of Heritage (INP) (Tunisia, ITP 2022)

My name is Lotfi Belhouchet, My research interests include Lithic technology in the Lower Paleolithic in Tunisia, which was the subject of my PhD which I studied at the University of Provence, Aix-Marseille but also rock art. I’m interested in North African prehistoric objects, Anatolia and Urartu collections and Mesopotamian prehistoric objects.

During the ITP, I enjoyed especially exhibitions, education programmes for children and object conservation. I visited the magnificent Ashmolean Museum, which is the oldest public museum in England and the second largest museum in Britain except the British Museum. The museum houses a vast collection of exotic treasures, including ancient sculptures, Far Eastern art, pottery from the Greek and Roman eras, and a wealth of valuable jewelry. In particular, the mummies on display are well preserved and exquisitely crafted. We saw also ancient sculptures, the entire wall being moved back to the British Empire, and the madness of looting was visible. In addition to ancient art collections, there are also folk art in addition to unearthed cultural relics. In addition to the collections displayed according to the country, there are also various exhibition halls, including coin collections, violins, glass ceramics, precious metal crafts… After three hours of unwitting visits to the Ashmolean Museum, it was just a walking tour, and the collections are really rich.

And I saw Stonehenge for real, finally! Stonehenge is one of the Europe’s most important Neolithic landmarks. It may be the world’s most famous stone circle. That’s why I wanted to visit this monument, from the moment I read about it in the university.  

The traveled to our UK Partner Museum which was excellent and I would like to express my great appreciation for the quality of the welcome and the efforts made by Dawn Heywood, Andrea Martin and Clare Pickersgill to make us understand the functioning of the different departments of their beautiful institutions.

Me and my friend Mohammad Al Qaisi (Education Manager at the Jordan Museum, Jordan) greatly appreciated the quality of work on prehistoric objects which are usually very difficult to understand.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to the ITP team who gave me a nice surprise on the occasion of my birthday and I want to thank Barakat Trust who supported generously my place on the ITP.