Preserving Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflicts

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Wilson Briefs | April 2016

From the demolition of Iraqi archeological sites during the recent Iraq War, to thebulldozing of the Buddhas of Bamiyan by the Taliban in March 2001, to the recent

destruction of some ancient Syrian artifacts and the looting of others by the Islamic State

(ISIS), crimes against cultural heritage in armed conflicts pose a major challenge to the

humanities in the 21st century. Cultural heritage has become a target in the Middle East

because it represents a people’s history, memory, and culture, all of which are subject to

erasure. As Michel Foucault remarked in a 1975 interview on film and popular memory:

Preserving CulturalHeritage in Armed Conflicts

by Yue Zhang

The ongoing armed conflicts in the Middle East have caused severe damageto the region’s cultural heritage. Despite the challenges, great joint efforts

have been made between local heritage professionals and the international

heritage community. Such efforts demonstrate creative approaches to

preserving cultural heritage in conflict zones, and illuminate the future of

more efficient international cooperation.

SUMMARY

Open ruins of ancient city Ebla, S


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Since memory is actually a very important factor in struggle, … if one controls

people’s memory, one controls their dynamism. And one also controls their

experience, their knowledge of previous struggles.1

Safeguarding an afflicted population’s cultural heritage, by contrast, not only respects

human dignity by protecting their collective memory and way of life, but also lays a

foundation for a return to normalcy following a disaster.

International Institutions and Local Professionals

In response to crimes against cultural heritage, local heritage professionals and the

international heritage community have raised a great joint effort. Participants include

archaeologists, museum professionals, historic preservationists, historians, librarians,

archivists, and experts at major international cultural organizations concerned with heritage

preservation, such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization

(UNESCO), the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the InternationalCentre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM),

and the International Council of Museums (ICOM).

The Safeguarding the Heritage of Syria Initiative Project, known as SHOSI, is one of the

major humanitarian interventions. Created in spring 2013, SHOSI is a consortium of the

Penn Cultural Heritage Center at the University of Pennsylvania Museum; the Office

of the Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture at the Smithsonian Institution; the

Geospatial Technologies Project at the American Association for the Advancement of

Science; the United States Institute of Peace; and the Day After Association (a Syrian

nongovernmental organization). In summer 2014, as ISIS advanced into Iraq, SHOSI

expanded its efforts to support Iraqi heritage professionals, and renamed itself the

Safeguarding the Heritage of Syria and Iraq Project.

In late June 2014, SHOSI conducted a three-day course on emergency care for Syrian

museum collections in Gaziantep, Turkey. Approximately 20 heritage professionals,

primarily from the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, attended. The workshop taught

participants how to protect portable objects during emergencies and provided basic

supplies for packing and securing museum collections that could be put to immediate

use. More important, it created a dialogue among local heritage professionals about

emergency needs and responses. Following ISIS attacks in Iraq and the occupation

of Mosul in summer 2014, SHOSI brought a similar emergency heritage protection

workshop and a short course to an audience of Iraqi heritage professionals in Erbil, Iraq.

Training programs or e-training courses for affected regions’ heritage professionals

also have been offred by UNESCO, ICOMOS, and ICCROM. Emergency training has

1 Michel Foucault, “Film and Popular Memory: An Interview with Michel Foucault,”

Radical Philosophy 11, no. 11 (1975), 28.


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attracted participants from Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Turkey. The courses broadly

cover ways to combat illicit trafficking, provide emergency stabilization for built heritage,

protect moveable heritage, and record intangible heritage. In addition to training, SHOSI

is engaging emergency preservation projects for at-risk cultural heritage. One such

timely measure successfully protected the building and mosaic collection of the Ma’arraMuseum, located south of Aleppo, from the Assad regime’s June 2015 air force attack.

Dangers and Other Obstacles

Many challenges hinder the preservation of cultural heritage in a conflict zone. First

and foremost, the conflict itself endangers heritage professionals in the region who

might otherwise act. The personal safety of those undertaking emergency preservation

efforts remains a paramount concern. Second, the international heritage community is

constrained not only by the difficulty of travelling to these areas but also by the legal

environment in which they must act. In Syria, for example, the United States and the

European Union have imposed sanctions against activities that involve the Syrian financial

system. For the United States, additionally, sanctions extend to collaboration with the

Syrian government and its instrumentalities, one of which is Syria’s Directorate General

of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM). American heritage professionals, therefore, are

legally forbidden from working directly with the Syrian DGAM.

Brian Daniels, director of research and programs at the Penn Museum, divulged in a

conversation that all local partners of SHOSI have to be vetted by the U.S. Department

of State for participation in the Assad regime’s unlawful activities or linkage to a terrorist

or extremist group. SHOSI’s financial transactions have been subject to monitoring by

the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Although such

scrutiny may be necessary, the multiple layers of bureaucratic oversight may impair

timely reaction to a crisis.

Reinforced and stabilized mosaics at the Ma’arra Museum,

December 2014. Photograph source anonymous for protection.

Ma’arra Museum curatorial staff preparing the mosaics for

sandbagging, December 2014. Photograph source and staff

members anonymous for protection.


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Yue Zhang is an associate professor of political science at the University of Illinois atChicago, and a 2015–16 Wilson Center fellow.

Roles for International Institutions, Local Professionals, and

Policymakers

The emergency heritage preservation projects in the Middle East have saved specific

historic sites and antiquities and demonstrated a promising model for protecting cultural

heritage when government capacity is destroyed in armed conflict. Recent experience

supports the following recommendations:

• The international heritage community should actively assist heritage professionals

caught in armed conflict with information, dialogue, and supplies in order to

increase their capacity to respond to emergencies.

• Local heritage professionals must take the lead in emergency preservation.

Only they are in a position to assess the risks involved in protecting sites and

implementing projects.

• Policymakers should regularly include heritage protection among humanitarian

actions that directly support populations in crisis. With expanded policy support,

international heritage institutions and local heritage professionals can be better

integrated into the humanitarian and disaster response community and translate

their expertise into action.

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Documents

Preserving Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflicts