Cultural artifacts are at risk of destruction during war, but Ukrainian archivists, curators and librarians have been working to protect them during the war.
From 1996 to 2001, the Taliban outlawed almost all forms of art while looting and destroying museums. With their resurgence, Australia must strengthen measures to stop trafficking of antiquities.
Costanza Musu, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
When the loss of this heritage is used as a weapon of war, it represents a loss for the country affected as well as for humanity. It targets the memories, history and identity of a people.
Trump recently warned Iran that the US could target its cultural sites. Many of Iran’s cultural sites carry deep religious meaning for a global Shii community and such a threat risks alienating them.
Islamic State has destroyed globally-significant sites in Iraq and Syria, but not as wanton acts of destruction. Instead, they are calculated political and religious attacks.
Researchers are making 3D scans, architectural plans and detailed photographic records of cultural heritage sites around the world, knowing they could be destroyed at any time.
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…
Professor of Anthropology and Geosciences, and Executive Director of the Center for Virtualizaiton and Applied Spatial Technologies (CVAST), University of South Florida