October 2004
CALVIN COLLEGE TRANSFORMS CAMPUS CONFERENCE CENTER INTO
MUSEUM-QUALITY FACILITY FOR ACCLAIMED PETRA: LOST CITY OF
STONE EXHIBIT
Prince Conference Center named host site for international exhibit of one of the most influential
and prosperous commercial centers in antiquity
Grand Rapids, MI – Imagine rising to the challenge of transforming the conference center of a
small Midwest college into a museum-quality facility suitable for hosting a major exhibit of
more than 200 ancient Middle Eastern artifacts – one that is currently running at the Cincinnati
Art Museum and made its debut at New York’s American Museum of Natural History! Calvin
College, a 4,000-student Christian liberal arts college in Grand Rapids, MI, has been given the
opportunity to host this major exhibition, which will run from April 4 to August 15, 2005, at the
College’s Prince Conference Center. Calvin College, under the guidance of the exhibit’s
organizing partners and the American Association of Museums (AAM), has committed to invest
several hundred thousand dollars to achieve the building’s conversion from conference center to
museum.
With students hailing from the U.S., Canada and 50 countries worldwide, and off-campus
programs, including China, Ghana and Honduras, Calvin College has the global perspective to
host Petra: City of Lost Stone. It will offer exhibit attendees an opportunity to “Experience
Petra” through an extensive program of educational opportunities for adults and youth, a
Mediterranean café filled with the heady aroma of robust coffee and regional delicacies and a
gift shop filled with beautifully handcrafted items fashioned by Jordanians residing in the area
surrounding Petra.
Like archaeologists who dig at Jordan’s ancient sites, the Calvin College staff members directing
the installation of the Petra: Lost City of Stone exhibit are carefully piecing together the
numerous elements required to plan and set up a 7,000-square-foot exhibition of fascinating,
museum quality artifacts.
In order to prolong the life of ancient objects, they must be displayed in precisely controlled
temperature and humidity conditions. “If there is a wide-ranging change in temperature or
humidity in a wooden artifact, for example, the moisture being brought in and out of the piece
expands and contracts too rapidly,” says Joel Zwart, Calvin College’s Director of Exhibitions
and Onsite Curator and Exhibition Designer for the Petra exhibit. To ensure optimum
temperature and humidity conditions, Calvin College is installing both a primary and backup
climate control system.
Because the heat generated from natural and fluorescent lighting can also damage precious
artifacts, an additional layer of dimmable, incandescent lighting will be installed in the
conference center, notes Phil Beezhold, Calvin College’s Director of Physical Plant. These softer
lights will also lend a theatrical appearance to the exhibit, and spotlight individual pieces so
visitors will be drawn to them. Room-darkening shades will be placed over windows, including a
set of 20-foot high clerestory windows located in the exhibit’s first gallery.
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Several steps are being taken to enhance the campus’ level of security during the exhibit, Beezhold
reports. Newly-constructed security walls will perform the dual function of added security and smoother
traffic flow; alarm and video surveillance systems are being augmented and enhanced; and the number of
campus police and onsite security guards will be significantly increased.
Pre-planning for the Petra exhibit has been underway for several months, and several behind-the-scenes
installations will be complete before the exhibit arrives in early March 2005. The final, major renovation
of the conference center will begin in mid-February. Staffers in Beezhold’s department have worked with
Zwart to create a computer generated floor plan of the exhibit space. Each of the exhibit’s 12 sections has
been color-coded to create a user-friendly traffic flow.
After the five semi trucks carrying the exhibit’s artifacts, display cases, interpretive panels and other
items arrive, it will take four weeks to install the exhibit, Zwart says. “When you reassemble a traveling
exhibit, it’s a little bit like working a puzzle,” he adds. “You take all the components, then work to fit
them into your unique exhibit space.” Six staff members from the New York and Cincinnati museums
will be onsite to oversee the installation. A rigging company will place the exhibit’s large stone pieces on
their mounts. A group of trained individuals will inspect, catalog and arrange the smaller artifacts in
display cases.
In October, a 50’ x 50’ archaeological dig site, called the Al Beidha* excavation site was constructed
behind Prince Conference Center. The site will be part of the exhibit’s educational program for youth.
Horizontal and vertical trenches will be excavated to make room for blocks that will replicate the
foundation of a home in ancient Petra. Ceramic shards, the skeletal remains of critters and other items will
be placed throughout the site, and then covered with dirt and grass. The youth-friendly digs, which
recreate an archaeologist’s excavation process, will be held on various dates throughout the exhibit.
“The transformation of Calvin College’s Prince Conference Center will be an amazing feat, an extremely
rewarding project that will provide an important learning opportunity for our campus community, the
greater Grand Rapids area and the Midwest,” says Gaylen Byker, Calvin College President. “We are truly
honored that Calvin College has been placed among the ranks of two extraordinary United States
institutions.”
Byker’s co-chair, June Hamersma, and Director of Calvin College’s renowned January Series, adds,
“Petra: Lost City of Stone represents a true gift to this community and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for
the Midwest and Calvin College to participate in one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in world
history.”
The Petra: Lost City of Stone exhibit was organized by the Cincinnati Art Museum and American
Museum of Natural History, New York under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of
the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Air transportation generously provided by Royal Jordanian.
For more information about the Petra: Lost City of Stone exhibit, running April 4 – August 15, 2005, at
the Prince Conference Center, contact Calvin College at 3201 Burton S.E., Grand Rapids, MI 49546;
616.526.7800; 800.PETRA05; or log on to www.calvin.edu/petra. Exhibit hours: M/W/F/Sat., Memorial
Day and Fourth of July, 9:30am-6pm; T/TH, 9:30am – 9pm; Closed Sunday.
-end-
______________________________________________________
For Release:
October 2004
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Calvin College
Phil deHaan
Director of Media Relations
616.526.6475
dehp@calvin.edu
Professional Marketing
Diane M. Jones
President
616.949.9104
pmconsulting@aol.com
______________________________________________________
[*Al Beidha = “The White One”]
About Petra and Petra: Lost City of Stone:
Petra: Lost City of Stone is the first major cultural collaboration between Jordan and the United States. This groundbreaking
exhibition offers North American audiences the opportunity to learn about the ancient metropolis of Petra, which was literally
carved from the red sandstone in the desert cliffs of southern Jordan. Located in the Jordan Rift Valley at the crossroads of
international trade routes, Petra was one of the most influential and prosperous commercial centers in antiquity. The rich cultural
life of the city reflected a confluence of Eastern and Western styles and traditions.
The forbidding desert was transformed by the Nabataeans into a bustling metropolis with monumental tombs carved directly into
the red sandstone hills, and hundreds of other structures including burial chambers, funerary banquet halls, residences, theaters,
bath complexes, arched gates and a complex system of water channels and reservoirs. The Nabataeans were skilled engineers and
developed and maintained an elaborate system of damming, terracing and irrigation that allowed them to maximize the
agricultural potential of the surrounding Petra plateau.
From the second century B.C. through the third century A.D., Petra prospered. A massive earthquake in A.D. 363 destroyed much
of the city, and, although partially revived after that, Petra was no longer the economic powerhouse it had been. Much of the
technological infrastructure that had made life in Petra possible fell into disuse, and political and religious changes in the ancient
world led to the eventual abandonment of the city in the seventh century A.D.
From its rediscovery by Swiss explorer Johann Burckhardt in 1812, Petra, with its savage beauty, desolate setting, the mystery
and splendor of its rock-carved architectural ruins and the variegated color of its cliff faces, has been a source of deep fascination
for Westerners. It became a major pilgrimage site for 19th century European and American artists and other travelers, and it
continues to enthrall. It was even used as a location for the popular 1989 feature film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
About Calvin College
Founded in 1876, Calvin College has become one of the largest Christian colleges in North America with over 4,000 students
from the U.S., Canada and another 50 countries around the globe. Calvin College offers nearly 100 majors and areas of study
and has 10 off-campus program options for students, including such places as China, Ghana, and Honduras. Calvin is widely
recognized for its outreach by means of scholarly study and works of art by its faculty and by student and alumni service in their
various communities. Special events also broaden Calvin’s outreach. Among them is the biennial Conference on Faith and
Writing, which brings noted writers to campus, and the annual widely-recognized January Series, a 15-day educational and
cultural series, which brings to campus internationally recognized musicians and scholars on timely topics. The archaeological
exhibit Petra: Lost City of Stone is brought to Calvin College as part of its dedication to community education and outreach.