Bethlehem Convention Palace
The Bethlehem Convention Palace (CPC - Convention Palace Company) "قصر المؤتمرات بيت لحم" is a convention center facility in Bethlehem. The Convention Palace was established four kilometers from the Church of the Nativity in the biblical and historical city of Bethlehem. The building includes a main meeting hall, exhibition gallery, theatre, meeting rooms, gardens, interfaith prayer room and cafeteria.[1]
The main design of the Convention Palace is the architectural integration between the Palace and the neighboring monuments, namely Qal'at Murad (the "castle of [Sultan] Murad"), Handicraft Center and the Historic Solomon’s Pools. Most importantly, the construction preserves the historic and archaeological nature of the area. An assortment of original Palestinian stones was used in the construction of the Convention Palace, with stones of various sizes and colors that were brought from different parts of the Palestinian Territories.
At the Southern part of Bethlehem City, the Convention Palace stands on 32,000sqm of land just opposite to the historic Solomon’s Pools site with a total land area 30,0000sqm. The construction of the Convention Palace came in response to the initiative of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in 1999 by “Mr. The deceased Hasib Sabbagh & The deceased Said Khoury” to host the World Economic Forum of 2000 in the city of Bethlehem and for future local and international conferences in Palestine. The Convention Palace is a joint investment between Consolidated Contractors Company “CCC” and Palestine Investment Fund “PIF”.
The Palestine Investment Conference was hosted at the Convention Palace two times: 1. 2008 by Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad. 2. 2010 by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.[2]
Coordinates: 31°41′25.9″N 35°10′06.9″E / 31.690528°N 35.168583°E
CPC Work
CPC (The Convention Palace Company) CPC Link operates and manages and preserves the following areas and surrounding (Google Map):
- Archaeological Site of three historical pools named Solomon’s Pools, two of them aged to be from the Roman period in Palestine and the third from the Ottoman period in Palestine.
- Murad Castle: an Othman Castle built for the protection of the pools’ water with an area of 3500sqm.
- Natural heritage forest
- The Convention Palace 12 Venues & Theater
- Handicraft Center built on 12000sqm for commercial traditional bazaar.
References
- ↑ "Venues". Bethlehem Convention Palace. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
- ↑ Palestine Investment Conference, Media Monitoring Unit, Sixth Report, Phase II, August 2008 Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine., In cooperation with: European Union and Ford Foundation
Official External Links
- Bethlehem Convention Palace Company - www.conventionpalace.com - The Official Website
- Bethlehem Convention Palace Location - Google Maps