“I condemn these destructions and I call on all parties to keep cultural heritage out of the conflict”, said the Director-General of UNESCO, Ms. Irina Bokova. “I am particularly distressed by the news concerning air strikes on heavily populated areas such as the cities of Sana’a and Saa’dah. In addition to causing terrible human suffering, these attacks are destroying Yemen’s unique cultural heritage, which is the repository of people’s identity, history and memory and an exceptional testimony to the achievements of the Islamic Civilization”.

“I call on all parties to refrain from any military use or targeting of cultural heritage sites and monuments, in respect of their obligations under international treaties, particularly the 1954 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two Protocols, as well as the 1972 World Heritage Convention” said the Director-General, urging for the protection of Yemen’s cultural heritage sites from collateral damage or intentional targeting.

She finally strongly welcomed the announced five-day cease-fire scheduled to begin at 11pm on Tuesday, that will allow for humanitarian relief supplies to be delivered to the country as well as first damage assessments to be carried out.

The Old City of Sana’a was inscribed on the World Heritage list in 1986. Situated in a mountain valley at an altitude of 2,200 m, Sana’a has been inhabited for more than 2,500 years. During the 7th and 8th centuries, the city became a major centre for the propagation of Islam. This religious and political heritage can be seen in the 103 mosques, 14 hammams and over 6,000 houses, all built before the 11th century. Sana’a’s many-storeyed tower-houses built of rammed earth (pisé) add to the beauty of the site.

The Old City of Sana’a was restored through a major campaign launched by UNESCO in the late 1980s and early 1990s, thanks to the contribution of numerous countries and the continuous commitments of the Yemeni people and government.

Yemen has two other cultural World Heritage sites: the Old Walled City of Shibam (1982) and the Historic Town of Zabid (1993), inscribed on the World Heritage in Danger list since 2000.

Source: UNESCO [May 14, 2015]

Stolen-art expert Chris Marinello, director of Art Recovery International, said he has been shown photographs of items being offered from Syria that were "clearly looted right out of the ground".

"You could still see dirt on some of these objects," he told AFP.

They included cylinder seals, Roman bottles and vases, although Marinello said it was unclear whether the items were still in Syria, were in transit or had arrived in the key markets of Europe and the United States.

Concerns about looting during the Syrian war have increased following the advance of the Islamic State group through parts of Syria and Iraq, and recent propaganda videos showing their destruction of ancient sites such as Nimrud.

The UN Security Council in February demanded UN states act to stop the trade in cultural property from those two countries, amid warnings that they represented a significant source of funding for the militant group.

Experts say it is impossible to put a value on antiquities looted from Syria, which has been home to many civilisations through the millennia, from the Canaanites to the Ottomans.

The London-based International Association of Dealers in Ancient Art (IADAA) estimates the entire legitimate antiquities market in 2013 was worth between 150 and 200 million euros ($160-215 million).

Marinello said reputable dealers are "being very careful not to touch anything that could remotely be part of this recent wave of looting".

But Hermann Parzinger, an archaeologist and president of the Germany-based Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, said there was an "enormous market" from private buyers.

He warned that the cultural costs were huge, telling AFP: "The context which is so important to reconstruct the history of these civilisations is completely destroyed."    

Italy has proposed that world heritage body UNESCO create a military taskforce to protect cultural sites in war zones, but many experts believe little can be done to stop the current destruction.

Instead, they are forced to wait until the conflict ends and watch in horror as priceless historic sites are destroyed and the spoils gradually emerge onto the market.

Vernon Rapley, a former head of the art and antiquities squad at London's Metropolitan Police, expects many Syrian items to be held back to avoid flooding the market, as occurred after the US-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The looted artefacts were likely to be "hauled up in warehouses either in the country or near the country, and only linked to the art trade in small pieces and at a later stage", he told AFP.

Stephane Thefo, who leads an Interpol unit dedicated to fighting the illegal trafficking of cultural goods, agreed that many items may disappear for years -- but insisted that tackling the trade was the best way to combat looting.

The French policeman would like to see tougher national laws on trafficking of cultural goods, something Germany is currently considering.

"We have to act by seeking to narrow markets for the illicit trade, hoping that by curbing the demand, the supply would eventually decrease," Thefo said.

Identifying looted objects is no easy task, however, not least because cultural crime is rarely a police priority.

The law puts the onus on the authorities to prove an item is illegal and a long delay in an artefact being sold, or multiple owners, make it hard to establish provenance.

At a conference at the V&A museum in London this week on the destruction of cultural property in conflict areas in Iraq and Syria, Mali, Libya and Yemen, archaeologists stressed the need for proper inventories of heritage sites.

They noted that objects that have been photographed and digitally catalogued are more likely to be recovered.

Interpol is currently building a database of stolen objects, and James Ede, a London dealer and IADAA board member, urged cultural bodies to share their information with dealers.

"This material will necessarily surface on the open market sooner or later. The challenge therefore is to identify it and where possible to return it when it is safe to do so," he said.

Author: Alice Ritchie | Source: AFP [April 17, 2015]

Four of the pieces are of exceptional rarity, cultural significance and aesthetic quality. These include a bust of a pharaoh wearing a crown, a fragmented stone slab (known as a stele) depicting the patron goddess of Thebes from the era of the New Kingdom (circa 1500−1000 BC), and two architectural fragments with cult scenes from the Roman period (circa 753 BC to 476 AD).

The objects were returned to Egypt in conjunction with the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Federal Act on the International Transfer of Cultural Property. The federal act marked the implementation of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the illegal transfer of cultural goods.

On Tuesday, an international meeting will take place in Bern under the title “The UNESCO Convention of 1970: 10 years of implementation in Switzerland − The preservation of cultural heritage and the duty to care for cultural goods”.

The event will include discussion of the practical enforcement of the act both nationally and internationally, and the effect it has had on museums, archaeologists, art dealers, collectors and government authorities in its first ten years.

Source: Swissinfo [June 01, 2015]

During its latest meeting in March, the international ICOMOS board was informed by the Bulgarian National Committee of ICOMOS about worrying trends in current policy approaches to conservation and restoration of cultural heritage sites in the country.

According to the report, these approaches had considerably and visibly endangered a number of cultural monuments in Bulgaria.

ICOMOS was particularly concerned that these policies could negatively affect the Bulgarian cultural properties designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

The organisation understood that these approaches were motivated by an effort to support regional development by increasing cultural tourism.

However this had resulted in a large-scale conjecture-based reconstructions on top of the ruins of archaeological sites, which had compromised the authenticity of the monuments.

ICOMOS warned that the replacement of original structures falsified history and could prevent further scientific research.

According to the organisation, such reconstructions violated the internationally accepted scientific approaches to conservation.

ICOMOS called on Bulgaria to take three steps in ensuring a sustainable policy in the field of heritage protection, which is based on internationally acknowledged principles of conservation.

Firstly, Bulgaria should end the ongoing conjecture-based reconstructions and ensure that all future conservation and restoration works in the country proceed according to accepted principles.

Next, the country should guarantee the involvement of experts in the national procedures for calls for tender under the EU operational programmes.

Lastly, Bulgaria should establish a continuous training programme in the field of heritage conservation directed at improving the capacity of local authorities.

ICOMOS expressed its willingness to help Bulgarian cultural authorities and its readiness to organise an on-site mission to the country.

Source: Novinite [May 11, 2015]

The General Assembly adopted a resolution on saving Iraq's cultural sites as international concern mounted over the fate of the Syrian archaeological site of Palmyra captured by Islamic State fighters a week ago.

Videos of IS combatants destroying artifacts at the Mosul museum and smashing sledgehammers into ancient walls at Hatra and Nimrud sparked an outcry and calls to prevent the "cultural cleansing" of the Middle East.

The non-binding resolution drafted by Germany and Iraq condemns the "barbaric" destruction and looting of heritage sites and calls for the prosecution of perpetrators of cultural vandalism.

The measure urges states to ensure that art collectors, auction houses, art dealers and museum professionals provide documentation to verify the provenance of artifacts.

"The destruction of Iraqi cultural heritage, the cradle of civilization, is no less barbaric and serious than killing Iraqis," Iraq's Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim told the 193-nation assembly.

German state minister Maria Boehmer said the destruction of world heritage sites "is a war crime and an attack on humanity as a whole."

"Every person needs to know that the purchase of property from Iraq is punishable but also that it supports and finances terrorist activities," said Boehmer.

The resolution calls for stepped-up efforts to protect and track items of cultural heritage and warns that attacks on historic monuments may amount to war crimes.

During a news conference following the adoption, Alhakim lamented that the Security Council did not adopt such a resolution, which would then have been binding and enforceable.

The council in February adopted a resolution that seeks to cut off financing to the Islamic State group from the smuggling of antiquities.

That measure slapped a ban on the sale of antiquities from Syria, while a 10-year-old ban on those from Iraq remains in force.

Source: AFP [May 28, 2015]

In the heart of Kathmandu, many of a cluster of temples and statues built between the 12th and 18th centuries by the ancient kings of Nepal have collapsed, killing scores and trapping others underneath.

The nine-storey Dharahara tower, a major tourist attraction in the city's Durbar square with its spiral staircase of 200 steps, was reduced to just its base when the 7.8-magnitude quake struck at lunchtime on Saturday.

"I had just bought tickets to climb the tower and was at its base when I felt a sudden shaking," Dharmu Subedi, 36, said from a hospital bed in Kathmandu.

"Within minutes, the Dharahara had crumbled to the ground with maybe more than 100 people in it," Subedi told AFP.

UNESCO was trying to gather information on the extent of the destruction, including at three palace-filled squares in the cities of Patan and Bhaktapur, both former kingdoms in the Kathmandu Valley, as well as in Kathmandu.

"We understand the historic Durbar squares of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur have been badly damaged," Christian Manhart, UNESCO's representative to Nepal, told AFP.

"Several temples have collapsed. Two temples in Patan have been completely collapsed, and Durbar Square (in Kathmandu) is worse.

"Right now we are assessing the situation, and collecting information on what the damage is. All UN agencies have received a request from the (Nepalese) government for assistance," he added.

He said it was too early to talk about reconstruction of the monuments and how much assistance UNESCO could provide.

Manhart said his office was also trying to determine whether another UNESCO World Heritage site, that of Lumbini, the place where Buddha was born more than 2,600 years ago, had also been hit.

"We haven't received reports of severe damage in Lumbini, but we are still trying to collect information," he said of the site, some 280 kilometres (170 miles) west of Kathmandu.

'Irreparable loss for Nepal' 

In Kathmandu, residents were seen clawing through the rubble, using their hands, buckets and shovels to try to find those feared trapped in Durbar Square, which had been crowded on Saturday with local and foreign tourists.

Large piles of bricks, wooden beams and other debris were dotted throughout the historic square, where minutes earlier stood double-roofed temples and other monuments built by the Malla kings.

The monuments are the "social, religious and urban focal point of the city" which has a rich history of Hindu, Buddhist and Tantrism religion and culture, UNESCO says on its website.

"Kathmandu with its unique architectural heritage, palaces, temples and courtyards has inspired many writers, artists, and poets, both foreign and Nepalese," it says.

Expert P.D. Balaji cast doubt on whether the monuments could be completely rebuilt, saying television footage showed extensive damage.

"What I can say is that it's an irreparable loss for Nepal and the rest of the world," Balaji, head of the history and archaeology department at the University of Madras, said.

"Complete restoration is not possible on account of the extensive damage to the historical sites in Nepal."

According to UNESCO, "two catastrophic earthquakes" in 1833 and 1934 led to some monuments in the Kathmandu Valley being rebuilt.

Author: Paavan Mathema | Source: AFP [April 27, 2015]

Li Xiaojie, head of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, presented a gold ornament to Liu Weiping, Gansu provincial governor, at a hand-over ceremony on Monday morning, marking the relics' return.

It was the first time cultural relics have been successfully returned to China following bilateral negotiations between the Chinese and French governments. They were returned by French private collectors Francois Pinault and Christian Deydier earlier this year.

The 32 gold items came from tombs in Dabuzishan in Lixian County, Gansu Province dating back to the Spring and Autumn period (770 BC-476 BC). The tombs were badly looted during the 1990s and a large number of relics, including the gold ornaments, were smuggled abroad.

A public exhibition of the relics also opened on Monday and will last until Oct. 31. After that, they will be permanently displayed at the Gansu Provincial Museum.

Source: Xinhua [July 20, 2015]

It seems, however, that these social media applications do potentially more harm than good -- by allowing archaeology and the future of collective cultural heritage to be swept away by naive initiatives without strategic oversight. The archaeological record and the archaeological profession are at stake, local communities face unequal access to their own heritage and archaeologists themselves become all too often a subject of abuse and exploitation.

An article published today in Open Archaeology focuses on the current state of the social web in the development of archaeological practice, and reflects on various conscientious activities aimed both at challenging current online interactions, as well as at positioning archaeologists as more informed innovators of the web.

Sara Perry and Nicole Beale, both from The University of York, surveyed the field in search of active social web initiatives in archaeology, studying their development and evaluation and assessing their impacts on other people, on cultural heritage itself and on the world at large. They found out that archaeologists have been drawing on social media and crowdsourcing/crowdfunding tools since their appearance on the web, and also that despite this long history of involvement, there is little evidence that they are aware of their (often dangerous) impacts.

It seems that these social web applications have not only put archaeologists themselves in danger, exposing them to severe online harassment and abuse, but that they are also draw local communities into exploitative labour practices, and seemingly enable a devolution of responsibility for, and weakened oversight of, the archaeological record. In so doing, the use of the web appears to be relieving the government and the cultural custodians of their duties to protect and conserve the historic environment for the future.

The authors argue that archaeology could adopt a more obvious social justice stance, using web-based media to advocate for cultural change and to bring attention to the short-sighted politics which are threatening our collective cultural heritage.

Source: De Gruyter Open [May 27, 2015]

Archaeologist Matthew Vincent has started a technology initiative to counter ISIS’s destruction — and he says his approach could work in other fragile and war torn states too.

Vincent and his colleagues at the Initial Training Network for Digital Cultural Heritage, a programme focusing on the electronic documentation and protection of cultural heritage, have set out to create digital replicas of Mosul Museum’s relics through Project Mosul.

The project’s volunteers primarily use a technique called automatic photogrammetry. This relies on photographs of the destroyed objects, crowdsourced from people who have visited the museum. The team input a series of photos of each object taken from different angles into software that triangulates key points on the object’s surface to create a digital 3-D model. About a dozen pictures are needed to do this.

Vincent and his team have already digitally reconstructed a selection of the lost artefacts — including the ornate gate below.

The Islamic State's capture of the town of Palmyra late Wednesday was a stunning triumph for the militant group, only days after it captured the strategic city of Ramadi in Iraq's largest Sunni province.

As IS took Palmyra, government forces collapsed in the face of the attacks and Syrian soldiers were seen fleeing the area, activists said. In Damascus, state TV acknowledged that pro-government forces had withdrawn from the town.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the extremists overrun the archaeological site, just to the southwest of the town itself, shortly after midnight Wednesday.

An activist in Homs who goes by the name of Bebars al-Talawy also confirmed that IS now controls the ruins at Palmyra. Both activists said the militants had not damaged the site so far.

A Facebook page close to IS published a statement Thursday, purportedly from the group, saying "the soldiers of the Islamic State" completed their control of Palmyra as well as the town's airport and prison. The capture came after government forces collapsed, "leaving large numbers of dead whose bodies filled the streets," it said.

The ruins at Palmyra are one of the world's most renowned historic sites and there were fears the extremists would destroy them as they did major archaeological sites in Iraq. The UNESCO world heritage site is famous for its 2,000-year-old towering Roman-era colonnades and other ruins and priceless artifacts. Before the war, thousands of tourists a year visited the remote desert outpost, a cherished landmark referred to by Syrians as the "Bride of the Desert."

It is the country that gave us democracy, the Olympics, philosophy, medicine, mathematics and some ruddy good stories. Surely you can't put a price on that.

At least, that's what a group of eminent classicists, historians and authors believe.

In a letter to The Telegraph, the philhellenes urge our readers "to remember the very great cultural debt that we owe to Greece".

The letter has been signed by In Our Time presenter Melvyn Bragg, historian Michael Wood, Lastminute.com founder Martha Lane Fox, poet Professor Simon Armitage, novelist Victoria Hislop and a string of notable academics and writers.

"Whatever the precise nature of Greece’s economic future, it is profoundly to be hoped that the Greek people will receive robust support from its European allies, including those in the British Government."

Just think: where would we be if Achilles hadn't been shot in the heel or Odysseus hadn't made it home? If Archimedes hadn't been obsessed with circles? If Pythagoras hadn't preferred angles? If Theseus hadn't killed the minotaur or Icarus hadn't flown too close to the sun or Persephone hadn't made a deal with Hades or Helen hadn't launched a thousand ships?

What would our world be like if Socrates hadn't talked of knowledge, Plato hadn't written about love, and Aristotle hadn't thought about science and ethics and logic and God? If Phidias hadn't designed the Parthenon and Polykleitos hadn't defined male beauty and Praxiteles hadn't sculpted the female form? If Hippocrates hadn't revolutionised medicine? If Alexander hadn't been so great?

Surely such a rich cultural legacy is worth a measly €323bn.

Then again, perhaps we would have been better off if Pandora hadn't opened that box...

Read the full text of the letter here:

Dear Sir,

It is timely to remember the very great cultural debt that we owe to Greece, how valiantly many Greeks fought in WWII and how hard-working, frugal and family-minded the majority of Greeks have long been and continue to be. Whatever the precise nature of Greece’s economic future, it is profoundly to be hoped that the Greek people will receive robust support from its European allies, including those in the British Government.

Prof Angie Hobbs, Dr Bettany Hughes, Martha Lane Fox, Tom Holland, Victoria Hislop, Prof Simon Armitage, Prof Michael Wood, Prof Paul Cartledge, Melvyn Bragg, Prof Chris Pelling, Dr Armand D’Angour, Natalie Haynes, Charlotte Mendelson, Prof Edith Hall, Prof Armand Leroi, Dr Michael Scott

"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.

Source: United Nations [July 03, 2015]

The meeting, convened by the Permanent Missions of Jordan and France to the United Nations, co-presidents of the Security Council, was an opportunity for member countries to discuss and identify innovative and practical ways to protect and preserve cultural heritage following the recent adoption of UNSC Resolution 2199 (2015).

“In the eyes of criminals, cultural heritage often stands as an easy target,” said Secretary General Stock.

“The current situation in Syria and Iraq presents a significant challenge as sites vulnerable to destruction are often out of effective government control and illicit excavations dominate the picture,” added Mr Stock.

The INTERPOL Chief said lessons had been learned from the first Gulf War, after which just one item was inserted into the world police body’s Stolen Works of Art database. The implementation of UNSC Resolution 1483 (2003) resulted in the successful collection of around one quarter of the 2,700 Iraqi records now contained in the database.

In the context of UNSC Resolution 2199 (2015) information on more than 1,300 items removed from the Deir Atiyah Museum and other sites in Syria is currently being added to the database to be made available to more than 2,000 users from law enforcement, customs, partner organizations and private dealers.

UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova highlighted the extent of the tragedy underway, especially the loss of humanity’s millennial history.

“Heritage must be at the frontline of peace building, as a way to build back dignity and confidence. It is imperative to curb radicalization and counter the narrative of hatred and division. The fight against illicit trafficking of cultural objects must be strengthened throughout the world,” said Director General Bokova.

Previous successes include the deployment of a multi-disciplinary team to Iraq under the auspices of UNESCO and the creation of a dedicated INTERPOL Tracking Task Force bringing together key authorities for direct information exchange.

Raising public awareness and support through vehicles such as the UNESCO #unite4heritage campaign, which is backed by INTERPOL, and also engaging Internet Service Providers and online marketplaces to report suspected sales of Syrian and Iraqi cultural heritage were also highlighted as ways to strengthen the fight against illicit trafficking.

Source: Interpol [April 28, 2015]

A team of heritage preservation experts inspected the work on Wednesday and announced that the project was complete.

"This repair work has tackled a series of technical challenges to preserve the cultural relic with modern scientific technologies and new materials to ensure the authenticity and integrity of the statue," said Huang Kezhong, the leader of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage Inspection Team.

The team has also suggested the local government should repair the Great Mercy Pavilion, which houses the statue, as soon as possible.

The Dazu Rock Carvings, 60 kilometers west of Chongqing, date to the Song (960-1279) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties and comprise more than 5,000 statues. They were opened to Chinese visitors in 1961 and foreign visitors in 1980. The carvings were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.

"They are remarkable for their aesthetic quality, their rich diversity of subject matter, secular and religious, and the light that they shed on everyday life during this period. They provide outstanding evidence of the harmonious synthesis of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism," the citation said.

The statue of Kwan-yin in Baoding Mountain was carved about 800 years ago during the South Song Dynasty (1127-1276), with 830 hands in an area of 88 square meters in the hillside. It is 7.7 meters tall and 12.5 meters wide, featuring color painting and gold foil. It is the largest of its kind in China.

Water seepage and weather damage caused the statue to deteriorate, and a conservation project began in April 2011. It was listed as the top restoration project by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

The work was led by the China Cultural Heritage Protection Research Institute. Experts from Dunhuang Research Academy, the Academy of Dazu Rock Carving, Peking University, Tsinghua University and China University of Geosciences also participated.

Three phases

The project went through three phases from inspection, planning and the actual repair work. The team used X-ray and 3-D laser scanning to collect information needed to effect the restoration.

"We found 34 kinds of viruses on the sculpture that have greatly damaged the historical and artistic value of the carving," said Zhan Changfa, the chief scientist of the restoration project.

They also found that 283 of the statue's 830 hands and arms were damaged. To respect the religious history, the team consulted reference books and pictures to ensure the restoration was accurate.

The major part of the restoration involved attaching a new layer of gold foil to the statue. The original foil was between 83 percent and 92 percent gold. In some parts the statue had six layers of gold foil as a result of restoration work in the past.

An ancient technique from the Song Dynasty was applied. The gold foil was first separated from the statue, washed in pure water and alcohol before being reapplied. Once in place, it was painted with three coats of lacquer.

The statue is due to reopen to the public on June 13, which is China's Cultural Heritage Day.

Author: Tan Yingzi | Source: China Daily [May 30, 2015]

The Unique Cultural Center

In Ávila (Spain) are opening a new cultural center Centro Niemeyer constructed under the project of well-known Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.

Oscar Niemeyer Presents...

The spiral staircase begins outside, at ground level, then deduces in premises and further into the attic hall. The unique design is only a part of the future complex, the project is in expectation of the gradual grandiose realization.

Organizers hope that the unusual object will represent itself as a magnet for the best samples of world culture, planning development of talents, knowledge and various niches of creative activity.

Except art showrooms and speech auditorium, in Centro Niemeyer are provided: the cinema hall, rehearsal rooms, conference halls and public zones. The author's plan — the centre opens doors into culture in all its directions, forms, traditions and styles: music, theater, cinema, exhibitions in the open air, live conferences and various educational programs.

VIA «Unique Cultural Center [Ávila, Spain]»

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.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News [July 06, 2015]

According to the Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Affairs – a department within the Mexican government – UNESCO will now offer the nine sites “special protection”, with the heritage body and government working together to impose, promote and implement humanitarian international law at the locations.

Included under the new agreement are the pre-Columbian era cities of Palenque, Teotihuacan, Chichen Itza, Yucatan, El Tajin, and Uxmal, as well as the ancient Mayan city of Calakmul and the archaeological zones of Monte Alban and Paquime.

"This corresponds as much to the intention that Mexicans' cultural heritage will progressively have greater protection as it does to commitments by the Mexican government to impose, promote and implement humanitarian international law," said a statement by the Secretariat.

The registry process has taken two years to complete, with several institutions including the Secretariat and the National Anthropology and History Institute starting the process in 2013.

The sites will now prepare plans ahead of potential natural or man-made disasters, with UNESCO striving to combat cultural trafficking and working towards prevention or mitigation of damage to the heritage sites.

Author: Tom Anstey | Source: Leisure Management [May 11, 2015]

Three buildings of a World Heritage site were razed to the ground and a fourth collapsed. UNESCO condemned the act immediately.

''I am profoundly distressed by the loss of human lives as well as by the damage inflicted on one of the world's oldest jewels of Islamic urban landscape,'' UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova said in a statement. Six people were killed, none of whom armed.

Giovanni Puglisi, head of the Italian national commission for UNESCO, noted that ''we are not facing the Islamic State (ISIS) bandits destroying cultural heritage. We are dealing with a Saudi-led coalition that, in reaction to terrorists' acts of war and as part of a scorched earth policy, destroy the cultural heritage of the historic Yemeni city. This is much more serious and worrisome than others due to its unusual nature.'

The Saudi missile came at dawn in the center of the Qasimi area with its thousands of inhabitants. The area has homes over 2,500 years old, about a hundred Arabesque mosques and evocative hammams.

The robbers worked in 10 separate groups and four suspects are archaeologists, the ministry said. Each group had a clear division of labor covering everything from excavation to sales, the ministry said.

They were found to have robbed ancient tombs from the Neolithic Age to Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in seven provinces and 10 cities, it said.

Police have recovered some extremely precious artifacts including jadeware and earthenware dating to the Neolithic Age, porcelain from the Liao Dynasty (907-1125), as well as ironware, silverware and gold items from the Jin (1115-1234) and Yuan (1206-1368) dynasties, The Beijing Times reported yesterday.

“Many recovered pieces fill in gaps that existed in our archaeological finds,” said Zhang Guilian, director of the Liaoning cultural relics administration.

The pieces included a coiled jade dragon, one of the earliest known representations of the Chinese totem. It had been sold by an archaeologist surnamed Deng for 3.2 million yuan (US$516,000), the report said.

The cross-provincial network emerged after police in Liaoning Province found signs of illegal excavations in Niuheliang, a Neolithic site in Chaoyang City, the newspaper said.

The site was discovered in 1981 and given protected status in 1988. It boasts ancient temples, altars and tombs believed to have significant scientific, historical and artistic value. The discovery of the site provided new evidence that Chinese civilization originated about 5,000 years ago.

After a five-month investigation, Chaoyang police located several gangs and their ringleaders, the report said.

One alleged ringleader, surnamed Yao, 53, had more than 30 years of grave robbery experience, according to the report. He used astrology and feng shui, a Chinese system of geomancy, to decide where to dig. He asked subordinates, mostly farmers, to do the excavation work, police were cited as saying.

He robbed tombs in Inner Mongolia, Liaoning and Hebei and his actions damaged the relics, police said in the report.

His group was found to have committed 23 robberies at ancient tombs or cultural relic sites, the report said. Police have recovered 263 pieces from the group, the newspaper added.

Last December, police from seven provinces and 10 cities launched the first intensive crackdown and netted 78 suspects. In follow-up operations police caught another 97, according to the newspaper report.

Author: Li Qian | Source: Shanghai Daily [May 28, 2015]

Scholars and curious visitors have spent more than a century trying to unravel those mysteries and more work needs to be done.

That's why nearly 30 top archaeologists from universities and organizations around the nation called on the U.S. Interior Department on Tuesday to protect the area surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park from oil and gas development.

In a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, they talked about the countless hours they've spent in the field, the dozens of books they've published about the Chaco society and their decades of collective experience studying its connection to modern Native American tribes in the Southwest. They call Chaco a distinct resource.

"Many of the features associated with this landscape — the communications and road systems that once linked the canyon to great house sites located as far away as southeast Utah and which are still being identified to this day — have been damaged by the construction of oil and gas roads, pipelines and well pads," the archaeologists said.

They're pushing for the agency to consider a master leasing plan that would take into account cultural resources beyond the boundaries of the national park. They're also looking for more coordination between federal land managers, tribes and archaeologists.

The Bureau of Land Management is revamping its resource management plan for the San Juan Basin and all new leasing within a 10-mile radius of Chaco park has been deferred until the plan is updated, likely in 2016.

Wally Drangmeister, a spokesman for the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, said the BLM's existing plan already takes into account cultural resources. He said there has been a push by environmentalists to tie Chaco to development in the Mancos shale more than 10 miles from the park.

Environmentalists have been calling for protections for the greater Chaco area, and Drangmeister said that expansive definition could put the whole San Juan Basin off limits.

The basin is one of the largest natural gas fields in the U.S. and has been in production for more than 60 years. More development is expected in some areas since technology is making it easier for energy companies to tap the region's oil resources.

Some archaeologists have theorized that Chaco's influence spread far and wide from its remote desert location. A World Heritage site, Chaco includes a series of great houses, or massive multistory stone buildings, some of which were oriented to solar and lunar directions and offered lines of sight between buildings to allow for communication.

Steve Lekson, a professor and curator at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, has spent years studying Chaco and its influence over the Southwest. He likened the process to learning how to play baseball after discovering home base and the pitcher's mound.

"You keep poking around and find more bases and the warning tracks and all that stuff. You need the whole picture to understand how the game is played," he said. "Of course, Chaco being a political system or major regional system is much more complicated than baseball. You need enough of the package intact so you can actually understand the structure of the thing."

Lekson and others said the hope that there's more to be discovered doesn't mean energy development should come to a halt.

"I don't think anybody is saying that, but we need to pay a lot of attention to how that's done and be cognizant of the larger issue," he said. "It shouldn't be a site-by-site thing."

The archaeologists' letter comes on the heels of a tour of the Chaco area by U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-New Mexico, and Interior Deputy Secretary Mike Connor. The two met with land managers and others after the tour.

Connor said there are Navajo allottees who want to develop their resources and other Native Americans who want to protect those resources.

"It's a balancing act throughout all of BLM's lands and I think Chaco is particularly unique," he said. "The more I learn about it, the more I was struck by the more we all have to learn."

Author: Susan Montoya Bryan | Source: The Associated Press [July 01, 2015]