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=> Chaldean center boasts of rich culture and history
| Chaldean center boasts of rich culture and history |
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- Saturday, July 10 2004, 16:35:16 (CEST) from  Commercial -  Windows XP -  Internet ExplorerWebsite: Website title: |
Chaldean center boasts of rich culture and history - $23 million site opens in Dec. in West Bloomfield By Jennifer Chambers / The Detroit News - May 27th, 2004 WEST BLOOMFIELD — Adhid Yousif Miri studies the entrance of the new Chaldean Community Cultural Center and sees his ancient homeland of Iraq. “If you look at the Babylonian Entrance in Iraq, it’s just like it,” Miri says, pointing to four pairs of giant stone pillars rising from the earth, part of a grand entrance to the center — the first of its kind in Michigan and the United States — which is expected to open to the public in December. Visitors walking through the doors of the massive brick-and-stone, 92,000-square-foot building should expect a serious history lesson on the last 5,000 years of culture and contributions by Chaldeans, a people who trace their history to ancient Mesopotamia. “This is going to be our hallmark,” said Miri, president of the Chaldean Iraqi-American Association of Michigan. “We expect this to be a huge draw for schools, other community groups and visitors to the city of Detroit.” And at a time when the war in Iraq dominates the news, local Chaldeans are hoping the museum and cultural center will educate and remind everyone of their rich history. “This was the cradle of civilization, where the wheel was invented, where astronomy and mathematics began. The first schools, the first library, the first law,” Martin Manna, spokesman for the association said. “This gives us a chance to tell our story.” Metro Detroit is home to the largest population of Chaldeans — about 100,000 — outside the Middle East. About half of that population lives in Oakland County, center officials said. The association, which has 1,000 member families, is spending $23 million to build the sprawling center on the grounds of the Shenandoah Golf Course on Walnut Lake Road, a property it purchased in 1993. The building will also include a new clubhouse and pro shop for the 18-hole course and restaurants and a conference room. The focus of the community center will be its art gallery, museum and cultural center and a banquet hall that seats 750. Association officials are collecting pieces of Chaldean art by working with scholars and historians from around the world and members of the Chaldean community who may have pieces packed away in their homes. Part of the center’s mission is to acquire, exhibit and serve as a permanent home for the artwork. Museum organizers hope to reproduce part of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and craft a time line of the entire 5,000-year history of the Chaldean people. Rosemary Antone, chairwoman of the center, is actively negotiating with the Berlin Museum, the Louvre in Paris, the Detroit Institute of Arts and Cranbrook to acquire artifacts or copies of artifacts for the center. “The Berlin Museum has a lot of the original artifacts of Iraq and Mesopotamia. They have casts of the Hammurabi Code and the original tablet of writing. We are hoping to purchase a copy of the original,” Antone said. Another source of artifacts comes from local Iraqis who are cleaning their closets and attics, retrieving stored books, fabrics and silks, hand-woven straw baskets and fans. As part of the museum, the association plans to re-create an Iraqi village with figures, pottery and other items to show what life was really like in a Christian village more than a thousand years ago. The lower level of the building will contain a gymnasium, where youngsters and adults can play basketball or soccer and swim in an outdoor pool, and classrooms where people can learn to read, write and speak Aramaic, the oldest continuously spoken language in the world. “With what’s going on in Iraq, it is a language that may become extinct,” Manna said. “We are trying to do everything to preserve it. We have a lot of people who are here now who still speak it.” The association has formed partnerships with school districts and other community groups such as the Jewish Community Center and area temples to encourage others to learn about the Chaldean community. The Chaldean community of Metro Detroit has changed, Miri said, and is attaining higher education levels, demanding higher standards of living and increasing in size. "This really reflects the pride and progress of the community," Miri said. "The aspiration and needs of the new generation have grown as well. We need to create something to preserve this culture or people will disperse." SHENANDOAH GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB 5600 Walnut Lake Road - West Bloomfield, MI 48323 (248) 682-4300 - info@shenandoahcountryclub.com www.shenandoahcountryclub.com - www.ciaam.com - www.southfieldmanor.com --------------------- |
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