Damage to Syria’s heritage – 14 August 2015

An article by Al-Monitor discussed how looted items are passing through Lebanon, available here.

This article provides an interesting summary of the way in which ISIS may be researching their looting, discussing the so-called ‘ISIS Book Club’.

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In his article in Counterpunch, Franklin Lamb discusses reconstruction and repair efforts by ordinary Syrians and the DGAM (July 29, 2015).  Sites discussed include Saint Mary Church of the Holy Belt (Um al-Zennar), Crac des Chevaliers, the Homs Museum, Zahrawi Palace, and Mufid al Amin House in Homs. Other sites includes Aleppo Musuem, Deir Ez Zor Museum, Hama Museum, Taybet al Imam Museum (Hama), Idlib Museum (Idlib), Shaqa Tower and Shahba pool walls (Suweida). In Damascus he visited the National Museum, the al Azem Palace, the Damascene Heritage House, the Khan Asaad Pasha, and the Nationa Museum of Science and Medicine. In addition to the reconstruction work, new security measures have been implemented at several.

In addition, Franklin Lamb revisited the Tentative World Heritage Site Maloula on July 27 2015, chronicling the “efforts of the local returning villagers who are deeply connected to this cradle of civilization and who are not waiting for the end of hostilities to begin restoration and repair work of their homes and of our shared heritage sites.” This article is available here.

The DGAM Director General has visited sites in NE Syria during the last two weeks of July, where he also met with local communities who have been “engaged in defending the archaeological heritage” in that area (Report here).

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• The Asia Society, UNESCO, the Antiquities Coalition, and the Middle East Institute will hold a meeting on September 24, 2015 in New York, titled “Culture Under Threat: The Security, Economic and Cultural Impact of Antiquities Trafficking and Terrorist Financing.” (Details here)
• SAFE and the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society provided summaries of the colloquium “The Heritage Landscape: Key Players and Current Issues“. The first part is available here, and the second part is available here.
• The German workshop on Friday 3rd July: “War against civilization. Does the sale of antiques promote international terrorism?”  (here) does not appear to be realted to the German research project, ILLICID  (here).

• Germany is cracking down on the illegal trade in stolen artefacts (available here).
• Three US Senators are working to prevent ISIS from profiting from stolen antiquities, with new measures (details here).

• Al-Monitor reports on the “corridor” allowing looted artefacts to leave Syria via Lebanon, and on UNESCO’s attempts to counter it. UNESCO DG Bokova said that ‘ “antiquities trafficking is a security issue, as it provides funding and financial support to armed groups and terrorists.” She also called on the UN Security Council “to include an item for heritage protection in the context of the missions assigned to the international peacekeeping forces.” ’ (article here)

• Vitaly Naumkin, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, calls for “less talk, more action” in dealing with the heritage crisis in the Middle East.

(Not covered in other sections)

• Another article on how IS is making money from antiquities smuggling, from July 27 2015 by Breitbart, available here.
• The Smithsonian recorded efforts by academics to rescue ‘precious cultural capital’ on August 7 2015, availble here.
• ABC Radio National provided a podcast entitled “Archaeology: Current Threats, Future Possibilities” on July 27 2015.
• The NewsHub asks “Why Do Islamists Despise Pre-Islamic Cultural Heritage”, available here.