The U.S. Department of State's Cultural Heritage Center has awarded additional funds to expand and strengthen the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage (IICAH) in Erbil, an educational institute administered through a partnership led by the University of Delaware and dedicated to preserving the cultural heritage of the world's most ancient civilizations.
From the July 9, 2012 article by Ann Manser for UDaily:
"This is a project and partnership for Iraq and the world and one we can all feel very proud of," said Debra Hess Norris, Henry Francis du Pont Chair in Fine Arts and chair of UD's Department of Art Conservation, who helped spearhead the initial plans for the institute. "Very real challenges remain, but we are making a difference for many." Also in June, Nawzad Hadi, the governor of Erbil, and the University signed a memorandum of understanding in which the governor's office agreed to provide funding to allow the institute to resume its program of architectural and site conservation. That agreement serves as "a signal of future cooperation between the government of Erbil and the University of Delaware in expanding existing programs and building on the foundation of the IICAH initiatives," said Jonathan Keyser, program director with UD's Institute for Global Studies, which provided support for the project. . . . "Iraq's diverse communities share the heritage of the world's oldest civilizations, preserved in buildings, sites and museums across the nation," Jessica S. Johnson, academic director of UD's conservation programs at the institute, said in a recent presentation about the IICAH. Before 1980, she noted, historical sites and artifacts were managed by professionals from the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH), but decades of sanctions, regime change and war led to fewer staff members and deterioration of Iraq's cultural heritage. Now, in classes at the institute, heritage professionals are making up for lost time by learning the newest techniques for preserving collections and managing museums and sites. In addition to the regular classes, Iraqi teaching assistants are being groomed to take over the educational programs in the longer term. The students are men and women, Arabs and Kurds, Muslims and Christians, Sunni and Shia, and may come from any province in Iraq. "IICAH graduates return to work and immediately apply their updated skills — and connections to international peers — to improving the management of Iraqi sites and collections," Johnson wrote, adding that the institute also serves as "a place for reconciliation and cultural understanding."
To read the full UDaily article, click here.
IICAH recently received additional funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Getty Foundation, and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad for the support of the Institute’s Conservation and Collection Care Program, along with funding from the Governor of Erbil for its Architecture and Site Conservation Program, and funding from several donors for student and master trainer scholarships. Read more
Images: An Iraqi teaching assistant explains to two students in the Laboratory Conservation Program how a historic copper basin was made; Museum professional Muna Hassan (left) and Jessica Johnson meet with Erbil Gov. Nawzad Hadi after his office and the University of Delaware signed a memorandum of understanding in support of the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage. (Photos courtesy of Jessica Johnson.)
