BARAMKI - Family Footprints

Orthodox Church Icon painted by Hanna Baramki on October 1850, Icon is present in Mar Yacoub church at Jerusalem 

 (written in Greek language at the bottom of the Icon)

 Orthodox Church Icon painted by Hanna Baramki on the year of 1849, Icon is present in Mar Yacoub church at Jerusalem  

Ibrahim Baramki deputy of Mar Yacoub Church in Jerusalem, his name is printed in Arabic on the arc of the alter in  Mar Yacoub Church at Jerusalem dated in the year of 1748

THEODORE BARAMKI (1876-1914)

THE BARAMKI HOUSE

Andoni Baramki (born c. 1897) completed his studies in architecture in Athens, Greece during WWI. He lived in Athens for ten years before returning home to Palestine in the mid-1920's. When he got engaged to Evelyne Khoury, he constructed a house in Jerusalem on St. George Street. Abu Gaby and Umm Gaby had three children: Gaby, Laura and George.

In 1931, Andoni Baramki, one of the few architects in Palestine at the time, started building another house in Sa'ad wa-Sa'id, which is located only few meters away from the one on St. George Street. The three-story house was built from a hard stone with a reddish pinkish color that came from Mezra-ar-Sharkiah. Construction was completed about two years later, around 1933. Baramki rented various rooms of the house thinking that one day his three children would inherit the property. Laura, the middle child, remembers her mother taking her and her brother to visit the two unmarried old ladies that were renting the ground floor of the house in Sa'ad wa-Sai'd. The two women loved children and would give them tea and cookies as they sat in the veranda and listened to the adults chatting.

Like many other buildings in West Jerusalem that were also Baramki’s creations, his own home was characterized by a distinctive, hybrid use of Corinthian columns and Arab-style arches and verandas. The houses were built with red and white limestones, which would become one of his architectural trademarks.

During the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, this neighborhood was split between the Jordanian-held east and Israeli-held west sides of the city by a “no man’s land” of barbed wire and fences that divided the city for the next 19 years. Strategically positioned, the Baramki’s house was commandeered by sentinels only weeks after its occupants had fled. The Israeli military transformed the house into an army post. The doors were reinforced and its front entrance sealed. The structure’s arched windows were filled in with concrete and made into turrets so that only a thin aperture, narrow enough to accommodate a gun remained. The interior was cleared for the housing of troops.

(right to left) Andoni Baramki, Adele Baramki (sister of Andoni), Khariklia Thodori (Andoni's mother), Bertha Sweda (wife of Yacoub Baramki), Yacoub Baramki (Andoni's brother), baby girl is Margarette Baramki daugther of Yacoub Baramki

GABI BARAMKI (1929-2012)

Gabi Baramki son of the Architect Andoni Baramki received his BA and MA degrees in organic chemistry from the American University of Beirut and his Ph.D. from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.  He was instrumental in establishing the community college program in 1953 as dean of Birzeit College and guided the development of the college into a university in 1972 as vice-president. Later, when the president of the BIRZEIT UNIVERSITY was deported in 1974 by Israeli authorities, he served as acting president until 1993.

During his tenure as acting president, Birzeit University grew in all respects, increasing the size of its campus and buildings as well as programs and population. He was a founding member of the Palestinian Council of Higher Education and its chairman for several years.

In 1994, Baramki became a special consultant for the first Palestinian Ministry of Education and concurrently the secretary general of the Council of Scientific Research and the Chairman of the QIF (Quality Improvement Fund) Board.  He served as president of the Palestinian Council of Justice and Peace and was a member of Pugwash Conferences and World Affairs (which was a Noble Peace laureate in 1995) and was elected for two five-year periods as a member of its Council (1992-2002).

Baramki was a founding member of the PEACE program (Palestinian European Academic Cooperation in Education), a cooperation project between Palestinian universities and over 40 European universities.  He was also a founding member of PACBI (Palestinian Academic and Culture Boycott of Israel) program, a non-violent program of resisting Israeli occupation, and was active in its ranks until his death in August 2012.  He was also a member of Birzeit University’s Board of Trustees, the consultative board of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, and the board of Muwaten.

The French Ministry of Education in 1993 awarded Baramki the Palm Academique (Officier) Medal in recognition of his contribution to Palestinian education.   Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas posthumously awarded him the Palestinian medal “Wissam Al Istihqaq Watammuz” in recognition of his life work for Palestinian education and for his contribution to the national struggle.

DIMITRI BARAMKI (1909 - 1984)

Dimitri Constantine Baramki, often styled D. C. Baramki, (1909, Jerusalem - 1984, California, United States) was a Palestinian archaeologist who served as chief archaeologist at the Department of Antiquities of the Government of Mandatory Palestine from 1938 to 1948. From 1952 until his retirement, he was the curator of the Archaeological Museum at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, where he served as a professor of archaeology.

Dimitri Baramki was born in Jerusalem, then in the Ottoman Empire's Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, to a Palestinian Christian family. He studied at St. George's School, Jerusalem. He was appointed Student Inspector, Special Grade, in the Department of Antiquities of the British Mandate government from September 1927. At the beginning of 1929 he was promoted to Inspector. In 1934, he completed his academic studies at the University of London. From 1938 to 1948 he served as chief antiquities inspector in place of Robert Hamilton, who was appointed director of the department. In 1945 he was appointed Senior Archaeological officer.

During his years in Palestine, Baramki published many articles, mainly in the Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine (QDAP) journal, on various sites - from the Bronze Age tombs to Byzantine churches.

In 1937, Baramki was the first person to identify the in situ Ayyubid text in the village mosque of Farkha, dating to 606/1210.

From 1934 to 1948 he conducted excavations and investigations at Hisham's Palace in Jericho. Baramki found the graffiti that mentions Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik and accordingly dated the construction of the palace (a statement that was later rejected) to the years of his rule (724-743), contemporary to Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi in Syria.

Baramki's doctoral thesis, submitted in 1953 to the University of London, dealt with Umayyad architecture and relied on the findings of his excavations at Hisham's Palace.

As part of his work in the Jericho area, Baramki discovered the Shalom Al Yisrael Synagogue in 1936.

At the end of the British Mandate in May 1948, Dimitri Baramki led Jerusalem's Rockefeller Museum for a short time.

Spoke about his appointment as head of the Department of Antiquities of the West Bank on behalf of the Jordanian government, but he found his place at the American School of Oriental Studies in Jerusalem as a consultant and librarian. In 1950 and 1951 he continued his excavations in the Jericho area on the mission of the American James Leon Kelso.

In 1952, Baramki was invited to serve as curator of the Archaeological Museum at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, where he taught until his retirement in 1975.

MITRI HANNA SABA BARAMKI (1901 - 1972)

Financially contributed to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Nation Fund

FAMILY PHOTOS  ليكن ذكرهم مؤبدا

HASHEMITE KINGDOM OF JORDAN, AMMAN TOWN MAP (1930 - 1931)