March 2005
Calvin Lecture Series Lends Educational Flavor to Petra Exhibition
As an educational complement to Petra: Lost City of Stone, a roster of experts will introduce the
greater Grand Rapids area to Petra and the Nabataeans - their history, their culture and the
archaeology that brought both to light.
At special classes, educator workshops, Noontime Series and evening sessions, archaeologists,
historians - even the curator who spent nine years putting Petra: Lost City of Stone together - will
discuss excavations of Nabataean sites; Petra's water systems, geology, preservation and national
park; the historical context of Petra; Nabataean scrolls and pottery; and traditional Jordanian and
Syrian costumes and customs.
The education begins just 15 days after the official April 4 opening for Petra: Lost City of Stone
with the first of 11 talks that are part of a special Petra Tuesday Evening Lecture Series.
All 11 talks will be held in the Board Room of the Prince Conference Center at Calvin (where Petra
will be housed for the duration of its April 4 to August 15 run at Calvin). Continuing education
credits are available to attendees.
First of 11 Tuesday Evening Lectures is April 19
"Petra's Great Temple" will be the topic for the first talk, on Tuesday, April 19, and the speaker is
one of the world's foremost Petra experts: Martha Sharp-Joukowsky, director of the Brown
University Center for Old World Archaeology. She heads up the Petra Great Temple Project and is
author of numerous books on Petra, as well as former president of the American Institute of
Archaeology.
The series continues on Tuesday, April 26 with "Rediscovering Petra, Lost City of the Nabataeans"
by David Graf, professor of history at the University of Miami, and then features on Tuesday, May 3
a talk on "The Petra Exhibition in International Context" by Glenn Markoe, curator at the Cincinnati
Art Museum, and the man who spent almost a decade planning and organizing the Petra: Lost City
of Stone exhibition.
May's lectures will include Bert de Vries (Calvin professor of history and director of the archaeology
minor at Calvin), Widad Kawar (a world-renowned collector, exhibitor, writer and lecturer) and Neal
Bierling (a local teacher and archaeologist).
June brings talks on the amazing Petra water system and its gardens, while July will feature Petra's
scrolls and its pottery.
Seven Wednesday Noon Lectures Scheduled Too
In addition to the 11 lectures on Tuesday evenings, Calvin also is planning a special series of seven
daytime talks, all scheduled for Wednesdays from noon to 1 pm in the Board Room at the Prince
Conference Center.
That series begins on April 13 with a talk on "American Archaeological Work in Jordan" by Pierre
Bikai, director of the American Center of Oriental Research in Amman, Jordan, and "Churches and
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Scrolls of Petra" by Patricia Bikai, associate director of the American Center of Oriental Research in
Amman, Jordan. She is an archaeologist who has been director of two projects in Petra as well as editor
of several Petra books. He is an archaeologist who has been director and administrator of the Petra
Church Project and numerous other archaeological site conservation and development projects in Jordan.
On Wednesday, April 20 the focus of the Noontime talk will be on "The Great Temple of Petra - 12 Years
of Excavation" Sharp-Joukowsky and on April 27 Graf will speak on "Petra and the Nabataeans."
In May the noontime talks will look at such subjects as Petra's geology, Petra and Hollywood and the
heritage and culture of the Bedouins. The series concludes June 1 with Vivian Ronay, photojournalist for
the White House and the United States Senate, whose portraits will be displayed at the end of the
exhibition. She will speak on “The Bedouin of Petra.”
-end-
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For Release: March 2005
Calvin College
Phil deHaan
Director of Media Relations
616.526.6475
deph@calvin.edu
Professional Marketing
Diane M. Jones
President
616.949.9104
pmconsulting@aol.com
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Petra: Lost City of Stone is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York, and the Cincinnati Art Museum
under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Air transportation
generously provided by Royal Jordanian.
In Grand Rapids a lead, local sponsor is Huntington Bank - West Michigan.
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