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.
“The Northern Club” it is organised by group of known professionals and businessmen in 1867 year when in British Empire clubs of gentlemen were very fashionable. The four-storeyed building was initially created as hotel.
Elite a citadel of gentlemen
Members of this private club have chosen bureau Fearon Hay Architects for building of the new neighbour for a historical building.
Jet Set Club
The new building under the concept reminds a Winter garden: thin steel lattices, glass — the style inspired by the Victorian epoch.
In this project borders between an interior and an ex-terrier are mixed; they are equally substantial and hospitable.
The 14th century mosque of the Amir Aqsunqur, better known as the Blue Mosque, has been opened to the public Saturday after the completion of a six-year renovation project.The Blue Mosque in the Bab al-Wazir district of Cairo, built in 1347 by Amir Aqsunqur [Credit: Marc Lacoste/WikiCommons]
The mosque had been closed since 1992 due to damage it had suffered from an earthquake in the same year.
As part of the Al-Darb al-Ahmar Urban Regeneration Program, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) has commenced the renovation work in 2009.
The mosque was inaugurated in presence of Antiquities Minister Mamdouh el-Damaty, the Aga Khan, the Chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network, Cairo governor Galal Saeed.
The restoration was completed by AKTC as part of the larger Al-Darb al-Ahmar Urban Regeneration Programme. The Mosque had been closed since 1992 due to damage suffered from an earthquake [Credit: WMF]
“The restoration of the Amir Aqsunqur Mosque was executed by a team of 60 to 80 craftsmen and conservators. They had first to remove the temporary supports installed after the 1992 earthquake – and then to implant seismic retrofit measures to protect against future earthquakes. They worked to conserve extensive roofing and facades on the one hand, and delicate marble panels and Iznik ceramic tiles on the other,” said the Aga Khan.
The blue tiles at the mosque’s interior eastern wall lend this mosque its alternative name, Islamic history professor at Minya University Fathy Khourshid told The Cairo Post Sunday.
The World Monuments Fund and the Selz Foundation were also key supporters of the restoration of the Amir Aqsunqur Mosque.
One of the Aqsunqur Mosque's arcades [Credit: AKTC/Gary Otte]
“Covering the Qibla wall from the floor to the ceiling, these tiles are in the style of ceramics manufactured in the Turkish town of Iznik which is famous for blue tiles,” said Khourshid.
Located in Islamic Cairo’s modern district of Al-Darb al-Ahmar between Bab Zuweila and the Citadel of Saladin, “the mosque was a part of a funerary complex, containing the mausoleums of its founder Shams El-Din Aqsunqur, his sons, a number of children of the Mamluk sultan Nasir Mohamed and that of its principal restorer, Ibrahim Agha al-Mustahfizan,” according to Khourshid.
Author: Rany Mostafa | Source: The Cairo Post [May 03, 2015]
Archaeologists around the world feared for the spectacular ruins in Palmyra, Syria, after Islamic State militants took over the city and brutalized its population last week. The group had already looted and bulldozed another World Heritage Site, the city of Hatra in northern Iraq. However, after a preliminary examination of the latest satellite images from Palmyra, Michael Danti, the academic director of the Syrian Heritage Initiative at the American Schools of Oriental Research in Boston, reported that he saw no new damage to the stunning crossroads of Roman, Greek, and Persian cultures, whose ruins include the Roman emperor Diocletian’s camp.Roman funerary temple in Palmyra, dating to the 3rd century CE [Credit: Robert Preston Photography/Alamy]
The Islamic State group has released a video showing that these ruins are still intact. And in an interview released yesterday, the head of the group's military forces in Palmyra, Abu Laith al-Saoudi, stated that they would preserve the ruins—perhaps because some buildings lack religious connotations or worship—but destroy the site’s statues, which the group believes are religious idols.
Recent satellite images reveal no new damage, confirmed Einar Bjorgo, the manager of UNOSAT, a U.N. satellite imaging project. But he and Danti cautioned that a more in-depth comparison with older satellite images and eyewitness accounts are needed for confirmation. UNOSAT’s more complete analysis is expected to be released Friday
Palmyra, a crossroads of trade between Europe and Asia for thousands of years, “was the quintessential romantic archaeological site out in the desert,” Danti says. Famous buildings include a medieval Islamic citadel, the Temple of Bel, and barracks and temples where Roman soldiers lived and worshipped. Danti reports that sources in Palmyra told him that most of the artifacts held in the Palmyra museum were removed before the Islamic State group arrived. What might remain are the large statues and bas-reliefs that were affixed to the museum’s walls, he said.
Some damage was reported at Palmyra long before the group took over. Combat injured the ruins, and Assad regime forces bulldozed earthen berms and created other fortifications in the ancient city. Satellite evidence also showed that ancient tomb entrances had been dug out and reopened. As Syria’s civil war dragged on, artifacts from Palmyra had been showing up on the illegal antiquities market, Danti says.
Although attacks on World Heritage Sites may get most of the attention, Danti points out that the Islamic State group has put much of its effort into destroying less well known places. “The majority of the damage has been to religious heritage that is being used by people on a daily basis,” he says. “What they are doing is tearing away the fabric of community’s cultural identity in a concerted, very overt form of cultural cleansing.” In Nineveh province, Iraq, where Danti has worked for much of the past 20 years, the group has destroyed more than 190 heritage sites, including churches, mosques, and schools. He estimates that 90% of those sites were connected with the day-to-day religious life of the local people. The Islamic State group recognizes “the power of heritage to essentially resist their message,” Danti says. “People turn to heritage all over the world as a way to define themselves … so [the group] tries to wipe that out.”
As a step toward curbing demand for these looted artifacts, a bill, H.R. 1493, has been introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives, which would ban importing Syrian antiquities to the United States. “It’s vital that minority religious sites continue to have a place to be,” says Katharyn Hanson, a specialist in protecting cultural heritage at the University of Pennsylvania, who testified in the bill’s favor. “If they’re all erased, there isn’t even going to be a place to lay flowers.”
With her şalvar, a type of harem pants popular among villagers, and a red yemeni scarf, Hatun Dilci, 72, does not stand out among fellow residents of her village in the southern Turkish city of Adana. What distinguishes her from other women of Dilekkaya village on the outskirts of an ancient citadel, is that the garden of her humble abode is full of Graeco-Roman artifacts ranging from sarcophagi to statues. This is a privilege granted to the elderly woman and her family as two generations of custodians of Anavarza ancient city.
A mother of eight, Dilci is a born-and-bred resident of Dilekkaya, where the ruins of Anavarza or Anazarbus, a city founded by Assyrians that thrived under the Roman empire, are located. Remains of the city's glory days are scarce, with just a small portion of the city walls still standing.
Dilci and her husband have always been keen to preserve the history in their environs, and this led to the discovery of Anavarza's ancient history, for which the couple was duly awarded. They were building a new house in the village in the 1960s when they stumbled upon a mosaic piece at the construction site.
"We notified authorities and they came. The mosaic we found was a 'fish mosaic' - a Roman-era artifact - and they awarded us TL 500. They asked us to build our house in another, place nearby. We started digging in that place to lay the groundwork but again, we discovered another mosaic," Hatun Dilci says.
Spending everything they had on the construction, the family was broke and without a telephone in the village, they had to travel to the city to inform authorities. They decided to do it, and sold two chickens they had to cover travel fees and went to Adana.
"We met the governor and traveled back to the village with him and with officials from a museum in Adana. They examined the mosaic and told us that we had found the Princess Mosaic," she says, referring to a mosaic believed to depict the daughter of a king.
Turkish villager issued permit to display Graeco-Roman artefacts in her garden
This time, authorities offered them more money or an assignment of the family as guards of the ancient city. "We chose guarding the site. They gave my husband a uniform and a gun and a monthly salary," she adds.
Hatun Dilci accompanied her husband in guarding the site and personally guarded the site long after her husband's death 22 years ago. Now, one of her sons looks after the site while Dilci preserves the artifacts in the garden of her house.
They started moving the sarcophagi, statues and numerous artifacts to their garden in a bid to protect them from treasure hunters frequenting the area. Under a special deal, the authorities allowed them to keep the artifacts as a small museum, as the area does not have enough space.
"I gave my life to this ancient city. I have been threatened by smugglers and treasure hunters. They tried to burn down my house and poisoned my livestock. I confronted the villagers damaging the ruins. I did this out of my sacred duty toward the state. I am retired now, but I still volunteer. I am still awake at night guarding against theft," she says.
Dilci and her husband have always been keen to preserve the history in their environs, and this led to the discovery of Anavarza's ancient history, for which the couple was duly awarded. They were building a new house in the village in the 1960s when they stumbled upon a mosaic piece at the construction site.
