Cultural Antiquities Looting in Iraq after the Gulf War (original) (raw)
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Heritage Under Fire: Lessons from Iraq for Cultural Property Protection
A Companion to Heritage Studies (Wiley-Blackwell), 2016
This paper focuses on the impact of the war and subsequent occupation (2003–2011) on Iraq’s heritage, documenting the most significant and devastating instances of heritage damage and destruction that occurred. Moving forward, this chapter continues with a discussion of the grave challenges facing Iraqi heritage beyond the withdrawal of US military forces in the form of various groups - from jihadist networks such as the 'Islamic State' through to various sectarian actors. It also discusses the threat to heritage sites from development, neglect, and inexpert and haphazard excavation, preservation, protection, and restoration. Despite this troubling scenario, this chapter also examines the extent to which the Iraq conflict was a turning point for major Western military operations and the development of CPP programs which aim to better prepare military personnel for protecting cultural property in future conflicts.
The Impact of War on Iraq’s Cultural Heritage
2007
The war in Iraq already began during our preparations for the printing of our Heritage at Risk Report 2002/2003. The devastating consequences for the rieh cultural heritage of this country with its witnesses of thousands of years of history in Mesopotamia, the "cradle of mankind", can not yet be estimated. The entire world is shocked about the shameless looting and destruetion of museums, libraries and archives. Our next H@R will surely give another aecount of the Situation of monuments and sites in Iraq. Therefore, this time we have restricted ourselves to the Statements made by ICOMOS and Blue Shield before the war and are quoting from other reports and appeals. We are grateful to be able to use photographs of some important historic sites taken by Karl Weibl at the beginning of 2003:
2018
Active since 2009, the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage in Erbil, Iraq is a unique, global collaboration that trains Iraqi cultural heritage specialists in international-standard heritage conservation practice. In its earliest years, the Iraqi Institute partnered with American academic institutions to deliver long-form coursework in architectural conservation, collections conservation, and archaeological site preservation. The Institute has also hosted shorter courses offered by other nations and institutions, most notably the Italian Foreign Ministry and the World Monuments Fund. After the spread of ISIS into Iraq in 2014, the Iraqi Institute expanded its mission to include emergency preparedness and disaster response approaches. In 2015, several organizations partnered to deliver a short course in the safeguarding and recovery of heritage in conflict areas. Based on their role in that successful course, the Smithsonian Institution returned to the Ir...
Cultural heritage predation in Iraq. The Sectarian Appropriation of Iraq's Past.
Chatham House, 2022
Summary — Heritage predation – the destructive exploitation of cultural resources for political purposes – has become a prominent feature of Iraq’s post-2003 political landscape. The country’s elites have appropriated cultural heritage in the service of various undesirable agendas, which range from commercialization of cultural sites to the propagation of sectarian and exclusionary political and religious narratives. Large sections of Iraq’s cultural heritage are now increasingly captured for private gain, diminishing its role as a public good accessible to all Iraqis. — A key factor behind these developments has been the political power-sharing system of muhasasa, which is premised on sectarian divisions and quotas. This has encouraged sectarian elites to instrumentalize and distort Iraq’s shared histories and identities as a means of sowing cultural divisions and establishing the primacy of one agenda over another. It has also both fundamentally damaged the country’s cultural life and left a society even further divided by sectarian politics. — The effects are manifest in the rewriting of history by the country’s post-2003 sectarian elites, and in the restructuring of entire cultural and religious sites, cities and towns by subnational institutions captured by partisan interests. Examples include the culturally insensitive renovation and ‘custodianship’ of the historically important city of Samarra, and similar works at the ancient Shrine of Prophet Ezekiel in the province of Babil. — Such problems are amplified by the fact that cultural heritage has become an indispensable economic and political resource, and thus the subject of competition between political and religious groups. Income and other resources derived from cultural heritage accrue not to the state but to sub-state institutions, yet often such bodies cannot be trusted to provide responsible, non-partisan stewardship of what should be shared national assets. The political economy of Iraq’s cultural heritage is thus increasingly tied to subnational institutions that actively promote ethno-nationalism, sectarianism and religious objectives. — Cultural continuity and sustainability are also being damaged by the lack of enforcement of national laws on heritage protection, as well as by weak coordination and communication between political and religious groups. — A national and international discussion is needed to examine the damaging impacts of muhasasa and the sectarian allocation of cultural resources. Iraq’s Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities should take centre stage in these debates alongside civil society organizations and Iraqi universities. Participants will need to be supported and strengthened by the Iraqi government and international organizations. — An ethics-based framework for the management of Iraq’s cultural heritage is urgently required. International organizations can play a key role in this regard, although domestic buy-in and good faith are equally important. As such, this paper outlines a series of recommendations for countering the impact on Iraq’s cultural heritage of sectarianism and the post-2003 degradation of the state. Those recommendations are respectively aimed at: (1) Iraqi government and heritage institutions; (2) the country’s religious endowments; and (3) international donor and research communities
Affecting Cultural Heritage in Syria and Iraq
2018
and Iraq Authors: LeeAnn Barnes Gordon, Bijan Rouhani, Susan Penacho, and Allison Cuneo Source: Objects Specialty Group Postprints, Volume Twenty-Three, 2016 Pages: 1-20 Editors: Emily Hamilton and Kari Dodson, with Laura Lipcsei, Christine Storti, and Leslie Friedman, Program Chairs ISSN (print version) 2169-379X ISSN (online version) 2169-1290 © 2018 by The American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works 727 15th Street NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20005 (202) 452-9545 www.conservation-us.org