In the past few years, many South Africans have come to associate Heritage Day with a good opportunity to have a barbeque, known locally as a braai. But the day is meant for so much more than that.
Barely a week after ISIS beheaded Khaled al-Asaad, the Syrian expert who devoted his life to the study of Palmyra, the group is reported to have destroyed a nearly 2,000-year-old temple dedicated to Baalshamin…
Just as we have become accustomed to two worlds of consumption – online and “location-based” retail (what we used to call “shops”) – the concept of museums and galleries as solely physical repositories…
When Chrissy Amphlett, lead singer of the iconic Australian rock group The Divinyls, passed away as a result of breast cancer in April last year, it was only a matter of weeks before the question of how…
In June, the Western Australian Government released draft amendments to the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972. This is the legislation that determines what qualifies for heritage protection in the state – and…
For most Australians, mention of China probably does not evoke preserved buildings and landscapes in the way the English countryside does or the Italian centro storico. But a new exhibition, Envisioning…
Glasgow School of Art is one of the few buildings that can lay genuine claim to the word “iconic”, not just for the style of architecture it represents, but for the complex symbolism invested in every…
After a sustained period of slimming down under the previous Labor government it looks like the GLAM sector (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) has still not achieved its target weight. Even before…
This month’s New South Wales fire emergency has again focused attention on the threat to life and property caused by fire. With thousands of hectares of bushland already burnt out, the impact on natural…
Scientists have used a hand-held 3D laser scanner to map the hard-to-reach nooks and crannies of Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa, documenting vital information needed to repair the iconic building if it…
The $30 billion Woodside Petroleum development slated for James Price Point in the Kimberley has been allowed to go ahead on the condition it does not affect thousands of fossilised dinosaur footprints…
Last Friday the World Heritage Centre and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released a report on the state of the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest World Heritage Property…
A damning UNESCO report has criticised management of the Great Barrier Reef and warned that the area could be downgraded to a world heritage site “in danger” unless Australia makes major changes to its…
The study and preservation of Australia’s neglected and decaying historic shipwrecks stands to leap in sophistication through a new multi-disciplinary project. Bringing in expertise from behavioural archaeology…
Obtaining a World Heritage listing for a national asset is a source of great pride for any country. The Taj Mahal (1983), Borobudur (1991) and Uluru (2007) are examples where countries have obtained the…
Senior Lecturer in Architectural HIstory and Theory, UNSW & Honorary Research Fellow, Australian Centre for Architectural History, Urban and Cultural Heritage (ACAHUCH), UNSW Sydney