The Comité de Conservation des Monuments de l’Art Arabe: Towards a Balanced Appraisal (original) (raw)
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Egypt is rich in a cultural heritage that can be traced from the remote prehistoric past through the various stages of world civilisation. Ancient Egypt's monuments link us to the past and make us aware of past human achievements. It is our duty to protect and preserve this heritage so that we, and future generations, can share in this historical legacy of our predecessors. The Lower Nile Valley is the birthplace of one of the first and most resilient great civilizations. In the course of its long and distinguished history, Egypt has bequeathed to us a legacy of spectacular monuments and a dazzling array of artefacts. However, unimposing sites and objects of everyday life also provide an invaluable insight to the various aspects of ancient Egyptian society and are just as important as the more spectacular sites and 'treasures'. Today, such archaeological sites and monuments all over Egypt are threatened by urban sprawl, development projects, agricultural expansion, pollution and looting. ECHO has been founded to help in securing the protection and conservation of Egypt’s threatened heritage. The archaeological record is a finite resource, which is easily destroyed without proper protection. There are an incredible number of sites and monuments everywhere in Egypt, as well as the countless artefacts in museums and storerooms, requiring constant monitoring, protection and maintenance. The Management of Egypt’s Cultural Heritage is the second volume in a series of Cultural Heritage Management (CHM) discourses; this ground-breaking series is the first academic collection of papers dedicated to the practice of CHM in Egypt. The papers in this volume are written by specialists in their fields whose expertise cover many areas of cultural heritage management, from the theoretical to the practical, tangible to intangible heritage, from cutting edge technology to simple conservation measures. The periods covered range from the Predynastic to the Coptic and Islamic periods. This volume is an invaluable addition to the library of heritage managers, conservators, archaeologists, and lecturers, anyone interested in preserving Egypt’s cultural and natural heritage.