Restoration work will begin next year at a Genoese castle, which is on UNESCO’s Temporary World Heritage List, in the Turkish Black Sea province of Düzce, officials have said.Akcakoca Genoese Castle [Credit: abozdemir/duzce]
The Culture and Tourism Ministry commenced a project to renovate and reanimate the original appearance of the ancient castle, which was built by the Genoese people 800 years ago, said Cüneyt Yemenici, the mayor of Akçakoca in Düzce.
“There will be bidding until the first half of 2016 for the restoration project. The tools necessary for the renovation have been determined,” said Yemenici.
Expecting the castle to reopen for touristic purposes in the summer of 2017, Yemenici indicated their communication and collaboration with the Culture and Tourism Ministry would continue.
A section of the wall of the ancient citadel in Aleppo was destroyed by an explosion in a tunnel under the city, state media and activists reported on Sunday.Part of the citadel wall turned to rubble after the explosion [Credit: Reuters]
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the damage occurred when government forces blew up a tunnel dug by insurgents under the city, while the state news agency said the tunnel was blown up by rebels.
A section of the wall was shown turned to rubble in footage posted online by Halab News Network, an activist outlet.
The Ancient City of Aleppo was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage in danger in 2013.
Aleppo was Syria's most populous city before the eruption of the civil war. It is divided into areas controlled separately by the government and insurgents who are battling to topple President Bashar al-Assad.
Israeli officials deplored UNESCO’s condemnation of Israeli archaeological activity in Jerusalem’s Old City.The archaeological dig at City of David, with Silwan behind it [Credit: Olivier Fitoussi]
At a meeting this week in Bonn, Germany, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee voted 13-2, with five abstentions, to keep the Old City on its list of endangered World Heritage sites. It condemned the “persistence of the Israeli illegal excavations” in the Old City and a series of Israeli initiatives outside it, including the Jerusalem light rail line that runs near the Old City walls, the City of David archaeological site in Silwan and an elevator at the Western Wall, which UNESCO said severely affects the “visual integrity and the authentic character of the site.”
UNESCO is the United Nations’ education, cultural and scientific organization.
Dore Gold, the director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, condemned the committee’s decision as a one-sided resolution and noted its failure to cite any Jewish connection to Jerusalem, referring to the Temple Mount area only as a “Muslim holy site of worship.”
The UNESCO committee also expressed concern with an Israeli plan to build a cable car system in eastern Jerusalem, restrictions on freedom of access to the Temple Mount, and Jewish visits to the site, which the committee called “Israeli extremist groups’ continuous incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound.”
David Harris of the American Jewish Committee called it ironic that “at a time when Islamist terrorists are destroying world heritage sites in Syria and Iraq, this UNESCO committee hypocritically chooses to attack the record of Israel, which has carefully and diligently protected the worship sites of all religions.”
Turkey’s Cultural and Natural Heritage Preservation Board has refused to declare a plot of land in Istanbul’s Silivri district as a first-degree archaeological site despite the discovery of artifacts from the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine eras. Now, the artifacts face an even greater threat as a wind-power company has indicated that it wants to cover the findings and continue constructing 21 wind turbines.
Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine era tombs were discovered during the construction of a wind power plant in Silivri, but the Cultural and Natural Heritage Preservation Board has not declared the area a first-degree archaeological site [Credit: Hurriyet]
Historical artifacts were discovered during the construction of Silivri Energy A.Ş.’s wind power plant belonging to businessman Abdullah Tivnikli in the village last February.
Among the artifacts were many Hellenistic- and Roman-era tombs and one-meter walls. After the protection board failed to declare the area a first-degree archaeological site, the company reportedly suggested to the board: “We cannot protect the field against treasure hunters. Let’s pour concrete on it and build wind turbines on it.”
The suggestion provoked a heated discussion on the preservation board, with only Dr. Aslıhan Yurtsever Beyazıt speaking out against the proposal. While other members recommended documenting the findings before pouring concrete on the site, Beyazıt demanded examinations at the site, but no investigation has yet been conducted.
On June 15, 2011, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality made amendments to its master plan for the construction of the wind power plant close to Silivri’s Fener, Kurfallı and Akören villages. The amendment was approved by the Istanbul Municipal Council in 2012.
A decision was subsequently made to build 21 52.5 MW turbines on an area of 440,000 square meters. The company started the construction last year, while the archaeological artifacts were found on the land of two turbines at the beginning of this year.
The Istanbul Archaeology Museum was informed about the artifacts, and further excavations by museum officials unearthed valuable architectural remains dating back to the late Byzantine era in the 11th and 12th century A.D.
The presence of many Byzantine-era tombs in the immediate vicinity suggests there could be a monastery in the area, according to officials. “This is a very important development for Thrace and Istanbul archaeology. It should be declared a first-degree archaeological site immediately,” one of the officials said.
“Since brick pieces were not found in the remains of the wall and a roughhewn stone was seen, it might be a Roman-era settlement,” the Istanbul Archaeology Museum said in a statement. “The remains of a structure, which is made up of big block stones, is thought to have been a wall from the Hellenistic era. The area might have been a Hellenistic and Roman settlement because the ceramic pieces around this structure show Hellenistic and Roman-era characteristics. The area might have served as a graveyard in the Byzantine era.”
The 700-year-old arched church in the northwestern province of Bursa’s Mudanya district has been put on sale on the Internet for $1 million, news website T24 has reported.Panagia Pantobasilissa [Credit: ANSA]
The Internet advert on a real estate website said the church’s relief and restitution were approved by the Bursa Council of Monuments. The 13th century church is filed under the top category “building more than 31 years old.”
The real estate agent who placed the ad, Nusret Akyüz, responded angrily to phone calls inquiring about the church.
“We are selling it. We cannot provide information about the owner of the estate. The details are in the ad. Do not make me repeat the same things. You are the 50th person who has called me since yesterday,” said Akyüz.
A document written by a Dr. J. Covel in 1676 states that the church was dedicated to Panagia Pantobasillissa (The Queen of All - Virgin Mary). The church’s dome and bell tower collapsed during an earthquake in 1855 and was restored in 1883.
After Greeks who had lived in the area for centuries emigrated to Trilye in the 20th century in the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, the church passed to private ownership.
This is not the first time news of the sale of historic sites and churches in Turkey has hit headlines.
Previously, an 18th century Greek church in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri’s Melikgazi district was put onto the market via the Internet in a similar way.
In March, a family living in the Cappadocia region of the Central Anatolian province of Nevşehir’s Derinkuyu district put their house on sale, along with a church and underground passage under the house, for 900,000 Turkish Liras.
The ancient city of Ephesus in western Turkey has been added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List following a vote in Bonn on July 5.Ephesus [Credit: DHA]
The move came just a day after Diyarbakir’s wall and its nearby Hevsel Gardens were added to the list as well.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Permanent Representative of Turkey to UNESCO Hüseyin Avni Botsalı – who headed the Turkish delegation at the session – described the unanimous approval of Ephesus as a great success.
“In fact, we have a great responsibility on our shoulders in terms of cooperation of the international community in this field. We will make significant efforts for the protection of civilizational values and cultural properties,” he added.
Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik celebrated the development in a series of Twitter posts.
“We have just received the second good news from Germany. Ephesus is now officially on the world heritage [list],” he said.
The minister said Ephesus had always been a key port city, as well as a cultural and commercial center, throughout history.
“A principal city of science, culture and art of its era, Ephesus had been a residential area starting from the pre-historic era and through the Hellenistic, Roman, Eastern Roman periods and also under the Ottoman Empire for about nine millennia without interruption,” he said.
Çelik also said Ephesus, which draws 2 million visitors a year, was a place that the whole world agreed was a site of global cultural heritage.
In a later interview with Anadolu Agency, Çelik noted the threat that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) posed to world heritage in neighboring countries like Syria.
“While a terrorist group called Daesh destroys cities, it is a significant message against this barbarism that Turkey as a Muslim country in the Muslim world managed to put its properties on the world heritage list,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.
In May, ISIL militants seized the Roman ruins at the Palmyra World Heritage site in Syria’s Homs Governorate. Last week, members of ISIL destroyed a peerless statue of a lion at the site on the grounds that it is idolatrous, while it has also allegedly conducted executions at the ancient city’s famous theater.
Describing Ephesus, UNESCO said: “The Temple of Artemis, which was considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is situated on the edge of this small town. The city which was situated at the beginning of the Persian Royal Road has survived sufficiently enough to enable us to understand the ancient way of life in Ephesus. It is one of the cities which played an impressive role in the beginnings of Christianity and during the period of its proliferation (St. John Church and the shrine of the Virgin Mary). It contains one of the most spectacular examples of religious architecture of the Seljuk Period.”
Turkey first entered the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1985 with Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia and the Great Mosque and Hospital of Divriği – both in central Turkey – and the historic areas of Istanbul.
The Hittite capital Hattuşa was added to the list in 1986, followed by Mount Nemrut in Adıyaman 1987, and Hierapolis-Pamukkale in Denizli and the ancient city of Xanthos-Letoon between Muğla and Fethiye in 1988.
In 1994, the city of Safranbolu was approved as a world heritage while the archaeological site of Troy was added to the list in 1998. In recent year, Edirne’s Selimiye Mosque and its social complex was added in 2011, as was Konya’s Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in 2012.
The latest entries in 2014 were Bursa’s Cumalikızık village which witnessed the birth of the Ottoman Empire and İzmir’s ancient city of Pergamon and its multi-layered cultural landscape.
Calling it "a landmark of Jewish renewal," the UNESCO's World Heritage Conference described the site: "Consisting of a series of catacombs, the necropolis of Bet She'arim developed from the 2nd century BCE onwards as the primary Jewish burial place outside Jerusalem following the failure of the second Jewish revolt against Roman rule. Located southeast of Haifa, these catacombs are a treasury of artworks and inscriptions in Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew. Beh She’arim bears unique testimony to ancient Judaism under the leadership of Rabbi Judah the Patriarch, who is credited with Jewish renewal after 135 CE."The necropolis of Bet She'arim [Credit: Tsvika Tsuk/Israel Nature and Parks Authority]
The ancient Jewish town of Bet She'arim reached its zenith in the 2nd-4th centuries CE. The inhabitants of Bet She'arim hewed grand tombs deep within the hill, with rock-cut burial chambers and stone coffins (sarcophagi). The rooms and the sarcophagi feature an abundance of carved reliefs, inscriptions and wall paintings. Stone-carved doors, which imitate the style of wooden doors, were fashioned to close some of the caves.
An emblem of a menorah carved in the stone, inside a structure at Beit She'arim National Park, an archaeological site in the Lower Galilee [Credit: Doron Horowitz/Flash90]
In the third century CE, Bet She'arim became a renowned Jewish center due to the presence of the spiritual leader Rabbi Judah Hanasi, head of the Sanhedrin. The Roman authorities, who supported his leadership, gave him much property, including an estate at Bet She'arim. Rabbi Judah moved the Sanhedrin from Shefar'am to Bet She'arim, and towards the end of his life to Zippori. He was buried at Bet She'arim in 220 CE, garnering fame for its cemetery in the Jewish world throughout in the talmudic
Underground tombs of the Beit She’arim Necropolis, inside a structure at Beit She’arim National Park [Credit: Doron Horowitz/Flash90]
The Israel Nature and Parks Authority noted that the site is the oldest and most densely populated cemetery in Israel, and one of the most crowded burial sites in the Roman world, similar to the catacombs in Rome. "This is the most important ancient Jewish cemetery, and it contains a wide variety of architectural burial styles, containing a varied wealth of Classical Oriental Roman art, combined with folk art, with hundreds of inscriptions in four languages - Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic and Palmyric."
Last year, Beit Guvrin was declared a World Heritage Site. Other sites previously added to the prestigious list were the Nahal Me’arot Nature Reserve, the Baha'i holy sites in Haifa and the Western Galilee, the Incense Route and its Nabatean towns, the biblical tels of Megiddo, Hazor and Be'er Sheva, The White City of Tel Aviv, Masada and the Old City of Acre. The Old City of Jerusalem and its walls were the first Israeli heritage site declared by UNESCO, in 1981.
Source: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs [July 05, 2015]
In collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Egypt's embassy in London, the Ministry of Antiquities succeeded to recover a piece of a column that was stolen and illegally smuggled out of the country many years ago.The recovered piece [Credit: Ahram Online]
Ali Ahmed, head of the Antiquities Repatriation Department, told Ahram Online that the returned piece is carved of sandstone and engraved with a scene depicting the god Amun Re. It was a part of a column found at Tuthmosis hall at Karnak Temple on Luxor's east bank.
The piece was in the gallery of Karnak that was subjected to looting in the aftermath of January 2011 revolution.
The piece is registered in the Ministry of Antiquities official documents and dates back to the 18th dynasty. It is 36cm wide and 29cm tall.
Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty explained that the piece was in the possession in a British citizen who bought it from the market without knowing that it was a stolen piece. Upon his knowledge, the British citizen agreed to return the piece back to Egypt.
The piece is to be sent to the restoration lab of the Egyptian museum for inspection and restoration before returning it to its original position in Karnak.
Ankara refused to cooperate with Damascus on returning of ancient artifacts smuggled by the Islamic State (IS) militant group from Syria through Turkey, the head of Syria's Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums (DGAM) told Sputnik on Friday.
According to Maamun Abdel Karim, statues, paintings, artifacts and ancient mosaics stolen from Syria have repeatedly been found on sale on the open market in the Turkish city of Gaziantep since the way for stolen in northern Syria ancient values lies through uncontrolled border with Turkey.
"We have appealed to the international community through different organizations so that they would make Turkey help us return these values to Syria. … Turkey has refused to cooperate with us," he said.
The official called on the international community to help Syria not only in returning the values that had already been smuggled to Europe, North America and the Gulf states, but, what is the most important, in ensuring control over the Syrian borders.
The IS militants, controlling large areas across Syria and Iraq, have destroyed numerous ancient historical artifacts and various places of worship, including mosques in addition to Christian churches and other shrines.
In May 2015, the IS captured Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage site, sparking fears it will destroy its ruins.
Condemning the destruction of archaeological treasures from the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra as a “perverse…new attempt to break the bonds between people and their history,” the head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today called on the international community, including the art market, to join forces and stop the traffic in cultural property.The 1,900-year-old Lion of Al-Lat statue is said to have been destroyed by Islamic State militants [Credit: Mappo/WikiCommons]
"The ongoing destruction of Palmyra's cultural artifacts reflects the brutality and ignorance of extremist groups and their disregard of local communities and the Syrian people," decaled UNESCO chief Irina Bokova, strongly condemning this new assault on Palmyra, a World Heritage Site, particularly funerary busts and the renowned Lion statue of Athena from the entrance of the site's museum.
"The destruction of funerary busts of Palmyra in a public square, in front of crowds and children asked to witness the looting of their heritage is especially perverse,” she said, explaining that the busts embody the values of human empathy, intelligence and honor the dead. They also represent a wealth of information on costumes, jewelry, traditions and history of the Syrian people.
“Their destruction is a new attempt to break the bonds between people and their history, to deprive them of their cultural roots in order to better enslave them, "she declared.
With this in mind, Ms. Bokova reiterated her call to all religious leaders, intellectuals and young people to stand up against the manipulation of religion, to respond to the false arguments of extremists in all media and through the #unite4heritage campaign.
"I commend the courage of the youth from the Arab world who are committed to protecting their heritage as a source of strength, resilience and hope in the future,” she said.
Finally, she called strongly on all UN Member States, the art market and experts to join forces to curb the illicit traffic of cultural property.
“I call on all researchers, artists, filmmakers and photographers to continue to cooperate and join forces with UNESCO to document and share the wealth of the Mesopotamian civilization. Neither bombs nor jackhammers can erase this great culture from the memory of the world,” she declared, adding that nothing can ever stifle human creativity - despite the obstacles and fanaticism, this energy will come back stronger than before, buildings and sites will be rehabilitated, and some will be rebuilt, and culture will find its place because it embodies the vitality of societies.
“UNESCO will continue to work with the people of Syria to make sure that moment comes as soon as possible,” the Director General concluded.
The Ministry of Antiquities approved the development of the Mons Claudianus archaeological site into an open air museum to exhibit the quarrying process used in Egypt during the Roman era.The Mons Claudianus archaeological site that stretches from the Red Sea to Qena province is to be restored with the view of developing it into an open air museum of Roman era quarrying in Egypt [Credit: Wikimapia]
Mons Claudianus is an area for granite quarries and houses a garrison, a quarrying site, a complete workers settlement with a horse stable and a granite water container.
Fragments of granite items have also been found, along with broken columns and a number of engraved ostraca (broken pottery).
Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty told Ahram Online that during the Roman era, the area was called Granodiorite and it was used as a mine to collect construction materials.
The Islamic State released photos showing the destruction of six priceless artifacts from the ancient city of Palmyra. The photos show jihadis taking a sledgehammer and smashing the historic treasures, including one dating from the second century.
Jihadis took sledgehammers to the relics, smashed them to pieces and then lashed the man who allegedly smuggled the artifacts in a public square full of onlookers, the Islamic State announced Thursday [Screenshots from Islamic State propaganda video]
Jihadis took sledgehammers to the relics, smashed them to pieces and then lashed the man who allegedly smuggled the artifacts in a public square full of onlookers, they announced on social media Thursday.
One-fifth of Iraq's approximately 10,000 world-renowned cultural heritage sites are under the Islamic State's control and most have been heavily looted, Irina Bokova, the head of the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO, warned experts in London Thursday. Some Syrian sites have been so badly ransacked that experts say they no longer have historical or archaeological value.
The statues were discovered and deemed icons under ISIS's radical interpretation of Shariah law [Screenshots from Islamic State propaganda video]
"Violent extremists don't destroy [heritage] as a collateral damage, they target systematically monuments and sites to strike societies at their core," Bokova said Wednesday.
The 2,000-year-old Allat God statue, which depicts a lion catching a deer between its feet, is believed to have been destroyed Saturday. "ISIS terrorists have destroyed one of the most important unearthed statues in Syria in terms of quality and weight...it was discovered in 1977 and dates back to the second century A.D.," Ma'moun Abdul-Karim, director of museums and antiquities, told Syrian state-run news agency SANA Thursday.
The Lion of Al Lat statue at the Temple of Allat in Palmyra [Credit: Alamy]
It's "the most serious crime they have committed against Palmyra's heritage," he added to the AFP.
The militants have also planted improvised explosive devices (IEDs) around the ruins of the ancient city. The explosives appear placed according to a pattern that indicates they are set to optimize the "filmed destruction," says Michael Danti, co-director of the Syrian Heritage Initiative at the American Schools of Oriental Research, a group monitoring cultural damage in Syria and Iraq.
"The deliberate destruction, what we are seeing today in Iraq and Syria, has reached unprecedented levels in contemporary history," said Bokova.
Author: Barbara Boland | Source: Washington Examiner [July 02, 2015]
UNESCO and UNITAR-UNOSAT (United Nations Institute for Training and Research- United Nations Operational Satellite Applications Program) signed an agreement to better protect the world's cultural and natural heritage sites by using geospatial photographic capabilities, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova said Wednesday at a conference in London. The agreement comes as ancient sites in the Middle East are under assault by terrorist organizations which include the Islamic State (IS).
IS overtook the 2,000 year-old archaeological site at Palmyra, Syria, a city of Greek and Roman ruins, in May and has threatened to destroy it. Bokova said IS has destroyed mausoleums, temples and statues around the area on a wide scale, and planted explosives within the ancient city. It previously destroyed Assyrian ruins and artifacts in Syria.
Monitoring by satellite could reduce and document the extent of destruction, prepare reconstruction and provide evidence for international courts of justice, she added.
"We are very worried about Libya, being a divided country. We have a small office there and are working with the local governments and mayors. We are very concerned about the expansion of Isis (IS) and youth radicalization. We are worried about Somalia. This (the satellite program) is our response to extremism," Bokova said.
The agreement was signed Wednesday in Bonn, Germany.
Islamic State militants have destroyed two historic mausoleums in Palmyra, Syria's top antiquities official said Wednesday, raising fears that the extremists could next target the town's famed Roman ruins.This undated photo released on June 22, 2015, by a militant website, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, shows the tomb of Mohammad Bin Ali before being blown up by Islamic State militants, in the historic central town of Palmyra, Syria. A Syrian official says the Islamic State group has destroyed two mausoleums in the historic central town of Palmyra. Maamoun Abdulkarim, the head of the Antiquities and Museums Department in Damascus, tells The Associated Press that one of the tombs belongs to Mohammad Bin Ali, a descendant of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad’s cousin Imam Ali [Credit: The website of Islamic State militants via AP]
Maamoun Abdulkarim, the head of the government's Antiquities and Museums Department, told The Associated Press that the extremists destroyed the grave of Mohammad Bin Ali, a descendant of Imam Ali, cousin of Islam's Prophet Muhammad and a deeply revered Shiite saint. The grave was just north of Palmyra.
The second tomb is close to the city's famed Roman-era archaeological site and was the final resting place of a Sufi scholar, Nizar Abu Bahaa Eddine, who lived in Palmyra some 500 years ago.
The militants of the Islamic State group are Sunnis who follow a radical interpretation of Islam that views visiting tombs and religious shrines as tantamount to idol worshipping. They view Shiites as heretics and the followers of Islam's mystical Sufi orders as deviants.
In this undated photo released on June 22, 2015, by a militant website, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, two of Islamic State militants stand on the wreckage of one of two mausoleums after blowing it up, in the historic central town of Palmyra, Syria. A Syrian official says the Islamic State group has destroyed two mausoleums in the historic central town of Palmyra. Maamoun Abdulkarim, the head of the Antiquities and Museums Department in Damascus, tells The Associated Press that one of the tombs belongs to Mohammad Bin Ali, a descendant of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad’s cousin Imam Ali [Credit: The website of Islamic State militants via AP]
Since the Islamic State group captured Palmyra last month, there have been fears that the extremists, who have destroyed famed archaeological sites in Iraq, would demolish Palmyra's sprawling Roman-era ruins, which were once one of the most popular tourist sites in the Middle East.
Earlier this week, Abdulkarim said he had received "unofficial news" from Palmyra that the militants intended to blow up the town's main historic site and that he had contacted tribal chiefs in the area to try to dissuade the militants. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had received information that Islamic State militants have mined the site. The report could not be independently verified.
Palmyra's UNESCO world heritage site is famous for its 2,000-year-old Roman colonnades, other ruins and priceless artifacts. Before Syria's conflict began in 2011, tens of thousands of tourists visited the remote desert outpost, a cherished landmark referred to by Syrians as the "Bride of the Desert."
Syrian authorities say they moved hundreds of priceless artifacts to Damascus ahead of the IS takeover last month, but the fate of those ruins too large to move is now in the hands of the extremists. Islamic State militants have already looted and vandalized a museum in the Iraqi city of Mosul and have massively damaged the ancient cities of Hatra and Ninevah - both UNESCO world heritage sites.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was not clear whether the militants were preparing to blow up the ancient desert city, a UNESCO Wold Heritage Site, or simply intended to impede any counter offensive by government forces.
Islamic State captured Palmyra from the forces of President Bashar al-Assad in late May, arousing fears that it might destroy its ruins, which include monumental streets lined with columns, temples and burial towers.
The extremist group has previously destroyed ancient monuments in Iraq, saying they were pagan, and is also thought to earn money from selling or authorizing the sale of archaeological artefacts.
But it has also shown off monuments such as the ancient city of Rasafeh, north-east of Palmyra, in propaganda footage about its self-proclaimed caliphate.
Shortly after capturing Palmyra, Islamic State blew up its military prison, notorious for the brutal treatment of political prisoners.
The Observatory, whose reports are compiled from a network of activists around Syria, said that clashes were taking place between Islamic State and government forces on the edge of the desert some 100 kilometres west of Palmyra.
Meanwhile, the Observatory reported further advances by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), who are pushing south after capturing the border region of Tel Abyad from Islamic State last week.
The YPG victory linked up the Kurdish stronghold of north-eastern Syria with the Kobane enclave and cut off one of Islamic State's main supply routes from the porous Turkish border.
The Syrian conflict, which started when government forces brutally repressed peaceful protests in 2011, has degenerated into a multi-sided civil war between the al-Assad regime, an array of mainly Islamist rebel groups, Islamic State and the Kurds.
Author: Pol Gradaigh | Source: DPA International [June 21, 2015]
Syria's best-known mosaic museum in the northern rebel-held town of Maaret al-Numan has been seriously damaged in a regime barrel bomb attack, according to archaeological experts.The museum in Maaret al-Numan on June 16, 2015 following reported air strikes by Syrian government forces [Credit: AFP Photo/Ghaith Omran]
The Association for the Protection of Syrian Archaeology said the museum "suffered serious damage caused by two explosive-packed barrels dropped Monday by Syrian army helicopters."
The non-governmental organization published pictures of the museum, located in an ancient Ottoman caravanserai, showing entire walls once covered with mosaics collapsed into rubble.
It said that several mosaic panels had been damaged in the eastern portico of the museum, including at least two that were knocked off their display by the force of the blast.
Other pieces were damaged by shrapnel and the pictures published by APSA on its website showed large holes gouged into an oval mosaic with a zig-zag pattern.
Syrian rebel fighters at the museum in Maaret al-Numan on October 17, 2012 [Credit: AFP/Bulent Kilic]
The museum building and surrounding complex, including a historic mosque, were also badly damaged, according to the APSA, with pictures showing several pillars destroyed and sections of roof that had caved in.
Reached by phone in Damascus Saturday, the head of Syria's antiquities, Maamoun Abdulkarim, acknowledged the damage at the museum, but declined to say who was responsible.
This is "a new tragedy for Syrian heritage," said Abdulkarim and called for the country's museums to be "neutral zones" in the war.
"No one, from any side, should harm that which forms our country's history," he said.
The United Nations last year warned that nearly 300 sites of incalculable value for Syria and human history have been destroyed, damaged or looted in the country's conflict.
The warning, based on satellite imagery, followed repeated statements of concern from archaeologists and other experts about the damage being done to Syria's historic sites and the rise in looting of antiquities.
More than 230,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government demonstrations before spiraling into a war after a regime crackdown.
The ancient city of Ephesus near Selçuk in the Aegean province of İzmir has begun counting down the days until its inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List, with the voting taking place on July 5. Selçuk Mayor Zeynel Bakıcı said they were expecting good news after the vote.
Bakıcı said two different reports regarding Ephesus’ UNESCO candidacy were made by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) at two different times, adding the reports implied they would have a positive result.
Bakıcı said the voting would be held during the 39th World Heritage Committee in Bonn.
“The session will start on July 3 but the agenda is busy. The candidacy of Ephesus is the 38th article of the agenda, the end of the list. It will be voted on July 5 and we are sure that the result will be positive for us,” the mayor said.
He said they would celebrate the result by flying Turkish flags and organizing a celebration program in Selçuk.
Bakıcı said the importance of Ephesus being added to the World Heritage List was perceived very well by local residents, adding, “UNESCO will bring many things to Ephesus. For example, projects on field management will be done immediately. The region will be reorganized. This is what we want.”
He said Ephesus was home to artifacts from the ancient Greek, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman eras. “In broad terms, Ephesus is a wide area including Ayasuluk [Castle], [the ancient temple of] Artemis, [the Basilica of] St. John, Çukuriçi Mound and Pamucak [beach]. The city that we call Ephesus had a population of 200,000 people in the past. Ephesus will be a world heritage [site] with all of its factors,” he said.
Following diplomatic negotiations, Egypt has succeeded to stop the sale of a unique ancient Egyptian statue at auction hall in Germany.The ivory statue dates from the Late New Kingdom to Early Late Period [Credit: Aton Gallery]
Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty announced that legal procedures and investigations are now taking place in Germany in order to return the statue to its homeland.
Eldamaty told Ahram Online that the statue was discovered in 2008 in Aswan by a Swiss archaeological mission and was stored since in the Elephantine archaeological galleries.
In 2013, the Elephantine galleries were subject to looting and the statue was stolen among other objects.
At the time, the Ministry of Antiquities created a list of the stolen objects and put it on the red list of Interpol, in order to guarantee its return if it appeared in any auction hall or on the antiquities trading market.
Ahmed Ali, head of the repatriation of stolen antiquities section, said that the statue is carved in ivory and depicts a figure holding a gazelle on its shoulders.
Militants tried to attack the ancient temple of Karnak in southern Egypt on Wednesday, with a suicide bomber blowing himself up and two gunmen battling police. No sightseers were hurt in the thwarted assault, but it suggested that Islamic extremists are shifting targets from security forces to the country's vital tourism industry.A suicide bomber blew himself up on Wednesday just steps away from the ancient Egyptian temple in Luxor, a southern city visited by millions of tourists every year, security and health officials said. No tourists were killed or hurt in the late morning attack [Credit: AP]
The violence left the bomber and one gunman dead, the other wounded and arrested, and four other people wounded. The temple was not damaged.
The attackers carried guns in backpacks, and one wore a belt of explosives. They rode in a taxi through a police checkpoint to a parking lot and sat at a cafe and ordered lemonades, witnesses told The Associated Press. The taxi driver, suspicious after they refused his offer to help with the packs, alerted police.
When a policeman approached, the bomber tried to hug him, but the policeman wrestled away. Seconds later, he detonated the explosives, and the others pulled automatic weapons from their bags and opened fire wildly, sending a small group of European tourists running for cover, the witnesses said.
The attack followed one this month outside the famed Giza Pyramids in which gunmen killed two policemen. The violence points to a change in tactics by Islamic militants against the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. For two years, attacks have been centered in the Sinai Peninsula, mostly by a group that has sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group and largely focused on retaliation against police and soldiers.
A campaign against tourism, one of the main sources of foreign revenue, could deal a blow to el-Sissi's promises to repair Egypt's economy.
Tourism has just started to show signs of recovery after plunging in the turmoil since the 2011 uprising that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The first five months of this year saw tourism revenues up 9 percent from the same period last year, Tourism Minister Khaled Ramy said.
Ramy said he expects the slow recovery to continue despite the attack, and he underscored how police had thwarted it.
"Security forces were there. It's a very important message to everyone," he told the AP on a flight from Cairo to Luxor.
Mohammed Sayed Badr, the governor of Luxor province, said the attack was "an attempt to break into the temple of Karnak."
"They didn't make it in," he said.
But witnesses noted it was civilian bystanders who alerted police to the threat.
A crowd looks on at the site of a suicide bombing, near Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt, Wednesday, June 10, 2015 [Credit: AP]
Karnak, one of Egypt's biggest attractions, is a giant complex of temples, statues, obelisks and columns built by pharaonic dynasties alongside the Nile. The oldest sections date back nearly 4,000 years.
Access to the site is through a gate and a roadblock, leading to a parking lot and visitors' center hundreds of yards from the ancient structure, which is reachable only on foot.
The waiter who served the men said only one spoke to him and had an accent from northern Egypt, while the others stopped talking when he approached. When they paid their bill, he said he refused to take their tip.
"They looked scary. ... One of them had really bad eyes," said the waiter, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Ikrami, for fear of problems with police for talking to the media.
Another cafe employee, Abdel-Nasser Mohammed, said the taxi driver reported his suspicions about the men to police. As the three walked away, a policeman approached them, leading to the tussle between the officer and the bomber, Mohammed said.
The bomber triggered the blast near a public restroom, and the other two opened fire. One ran toward the visitors' center, and a policeman shot him in the head, Mohammed said.
Tourist shop owner Sheik Ahmed Abdel-Mawgoud said he been standing near the restroom only seconds before the blast.
"When the explosion happened, I ran for cover and told my friend, a tour guide, to run with the tourists with him. I screamed at him, 'Terrorism!'" he told the AP. h The exchange of fire with police lasted several minutes, witnesses said, and two policemen were among the wounded.
Only a handful of tourists and Egyptians were in the temple at the time, security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
AP video of the scene showed what was believed to be the remains of the bomber covered with a black sheet with pools of blood nearby.
The monument "is safe and unaffected and visitors continue to arrive," temple director Mohammed Abdel-Aziz told the AP. Four groups of foreigners visited after the attack.
There was no claim of responsibility, but the attack bore the hallmarks of Islamic militants who have operating in the Sinai Peninsula.
Egyptian security officials stand guard as tourists visit the ruins of the Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt, Wednesday, June 10, 2015 [Credit: Hassan Ammar/AP]
Last year, the main Sinai-based insurgent group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, which has destroyed archaeological landmarks in Syria and Iraq, viewing them as idolatrous.
The violence in Sinai accelerated and spread to other parts of Egypt following the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. The militants say the attacks are in retaliation for a massive crackdown on Islamists in Egypt.
A senior security official said investigators are looking to see whether the Luxor attackers are Egyptians and whether it marks an expansion of the violence to southern Egypt, which was a breeding ground for the militants of the 1990s and 2000.
In the 1990s, Islamic militants targeted tourism to try to undermine the economy. The deadliest attack was in Luxor in November 1997, 58 people were killed at the 3,400-year-old Hatshepsut Temple.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters, said the new breed of militants were unknown to the authorities. But he said the latest attack was a qualitative shift in the militants' target.
The attack coincided with a major regional economic summit, hosted by el-Sissi at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Luxor is home to some of Egypt's most famous ancient temples and pharaonic tombs, including that of King Tutankhamun. The city has been one the sites hit hardest by the sharp downturn in foreign visitors since the 2011 uprising.
Before the turmoil, tourism accounted for as much as 20 percent of Egypt's foreign currency revenues, with as a high of 14.7 million visitors in 2010.
After the uprising, those numbers plunged to 9.6 million, and then fell lower in 2013 after Morsi's ouster. Tourists have been coming back slowly, with revenues jumping to $4 billion so far this year, compared with $1.9 billion in the same period in 2014.
Beach resorts in southern Sinai and along the Red Sea coast have drawn most of the visitors, with cultural sites like Luxor seeing only a trickle. Most tourists in the searing heat of the summer months come to Luxor only for a one-day trip from the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.
Wednesday's attack is likely to result in cancellations in bookings for Luxor, although the blow is cushioned by the fact that it is low season and most tourists stay away until October.
Three major German operators, TUI Deutschland, the Germany branch of Thomas Cook and L'TUR, said they are temporarily canceling excursions to Luxor, but stressed that most of their customers are at Red Sea resorts or on Nile cruises.
"We have no reason to advise against traveling to Egypt at the present time, since the German Foreign Ministry hasn't changed its security guidance," said L'TUR spokesman Thomas Pluennecke. "But, as a precaution, we have stopped all excursions to Luxor. Of course we take the situation seriously."
Authors: Sarah el Deeb & Haggag Salama | Source: The Associated Press [June 10, 2015]
Ankara Univetsity will recreate a 2,000-year-old Roman harbour in one of the oldest coastal towns in the Aegean region, İzmir’s Urla district, in its original place. The harbour will have boats, catapults, depots and the same equipment used in the Roman era, which will be constructed to resemble their original appearance. When the harbour construction is completed, visitors will be able to take the Roman-era style boats on a tour of the area.
According to a statement made by the university, the project, which is the first of its kind, will be realized in collaboration with the Culture and Tourism Ministry.
Speaking about the project, Ankara University Underwater Archaeology Research and Application Center (ANKÜSAM) founder and Liman Tepe excavations head Professor Hayat Erkanal said, “This project is the first in the world. We will start working to prepare boats and weapons first. The detailed construction will start in a year.”
Erkanal said catapults of the Roman era would also be in the harbour, adding, “There were buildings in the harbour for loading and registration, we will build these buildings. We have found out that there was a small church in the harbour in the late period. But we will build a harbour from the early Roman era. It will be established on land allocated by the Urla Municipality. We will build at least two boats from the early Roman era. The area will be open to tourist visits when the work is finished. We will try to keep this area a living place. Visitors will be able to tour in the Aegean sea on Roman boats.”
Ankara University Rector Professor Erkan İbiş said the project was important for Turkish tourism. He said they will revive every aspect of the Roman harbour.
“We will build the very same Roman harbour here. Tools, boats, loading vehicles are being created just like their original,” he said.
Editor's Note:
The Turkish name "Urla" is derived from the Greek "Vourla" meaning marshlands and the town was cited as such in western sources until the 20th century. Urla is where the ancient city of Klazomenai is located.
