CULTURE
Cultural differences between
the provinces are important. The population of the west is far
more cosmopolitan than that of the east and includes a higher
proportion of people with Berber, Sudanese African, and Turkish
origins. Cyrenaica was profoundly affected by the teachings of
the 19th-century Sanusiyah, an Islamic brotherhood, which had
little influence in the west and south. Since the 1969 coup, life-styles
have been strongly influenced by the revolutionary government's
restructuring of national and local government and its efforts
to reduce the influence of traditional tribes. The government
has also brought women out of traditional seclusion and into the
mainstream of the revolutionary socialist society.
Libyan culture centres on
folk art and traditions, which are highly influenced by Islam.
The traditional arts of weaving, embroidery, metal engraving,
and leatherwork rarely depict people or animals because of the
Islamic prohibition against such representation. The dominant
geometric and arabesque designs are best presented in the stucco
and tiles of the Karamanli and Gurgi mosques of Tripoli. Surviving
traditions are represented by festivals, horse races, and folk
dances. Nonreligious literature has developed largely since the
1960s; it is nationalistic in character but reveals Egyptian influences.
The arts are supported by the government through the Ministry
of Information, the Ministry of Education and National Guidance,
and the Al-Fikr Society, a group of intellectuals and professionals.
Libraries include the Government
Library and the Archives in Tripoli, the Public Library in Banghazi,
and the university libraries. The Department of Antiquities is
responsible for the Archaeological Museum, the Leptis Magna Museum
of Antiquities, the Natural History Museum, and the Sabratha Museum
of Antiquities, all in the western region, and the archaeological
sites of Ptolemais and Appolonia in the eastern region. The Sabha
Museum contains exhibits of ancient remains of the former Fezzan
region.
