Gorgeous calligraphy canvas print by Nawaf Soliman as part of the Cities in the Heart exhibit. 

Numbered giclée on wood-stretched canvas

The Canaanites crossed the plain called Marj Ibn Amer where they enjoyed the plain's springs, orchards, and gardens. They settled there, naming it Ain Ganim (Ain al-Jinan or the eye of paradise), which later became the city of Jenin.

From the lands of Jenin, Jesus crossed on his way from Nazareth to Jerusalem and found 10 lepers who had been quarantined in a cave. Jesus healed them by a divine miracle. Above the cave, the fourth oldest church in the world was established. The church bore the name of Saint Jerges, the Palestinian hero who was martyred in 303 A.D. while resisting the Roman persecution of Christians. 

Throughout its long history, Jenin has faced and braved many invaders. Today Jenin is the center for 120 towns and villages, all of which are famous for the quality of their agricultural production, as well as for the pasta and the harissa sweets.

The people of Jenin are proud of a Jenin scientist, Issam al-Nimr, who was one of the supervisors of the launch of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, the first spacecraft to land on the moon in 1969. Al-Nimer gave the astronauts a small stone with Jenin written on it to place it on the moon's surface.

This piece was created in the sponge pen style, which allowed the artist to experiment with the directions of the script. Arabic is written right to left, but in this piece, the artist wrote the script from the bottom up.