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By Ashraf Abdul-Wahab.
Tripoli, 12 January 2014:
The Awjila Cultural Festival starts on 17 January. The event, sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism, . . .[restrict]will see groups from across the local community and the Cyrenaica region celebrate the cultural traditions in the oasis town and its surrounding areas.
The festival, now in its second year, is organised by Awjila’s local tourism office and supervised by its local council. The three-day programme includes recreations of scenes from the cultural past of north-eastern Libya as well as the showcasing of collections of historical books and manuscripts. There will also be an exhibition devoted to the palm industry, including of course dates.
The 2014 festival this year for the first time has displays of paintings, sbowing the social and economical life of the old town over the centuries.
The Awjila Cultural Festival is now one of half a dozen similar events in Libya, including those in Hun and Ghat, which look to reinvigorate domestic tourism. Awjila, located to the south west of Benghazi, is famous for the beauty of its old town architecture. Its oasis and surrounding desert are considered among the most important attractions of the desert tourism in Libya. [/restrict]
