News The fight to save cultural heritage in crisis

​The fight to save world cultures continues with 16 graduates from the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage (IICAH) receiving University of Delaware continuing education certificates. 

Excerpted from the Smithsonian.com article entitled "Why We Need to Fight to Save Mosul’s Cultural Heritage":

When ISIS first took Mosul, it burned the city’s library destroying hundreds of historic manuscripts. Citizens, proud of their multicultural heritage, joined hands in a human chain and repelled ISIS’s first attempt to destroy the Sheikh Fathi mosque and shrine with stones, only to lose out the next day to bulldozers. The world winced when ISIS blew up the mosque and tomb of Nebi Yunis—the Biblical Jonah—and that of Nabi Jerjis, also known as Saint George, and cringed watching the ISIS-produced video of thugs destroying statues in the Mosul museum and carved reliefs at Nineveh. ISIS wanted to illustrate as virtue its fanatical drive to erase people’s history and identity; and the world rightly took it as the barbaric violation of human rights. . . . Now, with the liberating forces beginning their final assault, the United States and its allies need to respect and help protect the heritage ISIS despises and prevent the repetition of anything similar to what happened in 2003 with the looting and destruction of Baghdad’s renowned National Museum of Iraq. . . .

Over the past few years, with support from the U.S. State Department, conservators, archaeologists and museum specialists from the Smithsonian Institution, the University of Pennsylvania and University of Delaware have worked closely with local counterparts at the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage in Erbil to train some 500 cultural heritage workers from all parts of Iraq—so they could save, treat and prepare collections and sites for the public good. Last summer, the Smithsonian hosted a “First Aid for Culture” course in Washington, D.C. that included professionals from Iraq who will help restore heritage in Mosul after the conflict. A few weeks ago, the two of us, along with others from the Smithsonian and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, met in Erbil with Iraqi and Kurdish officials and experts, U.S. government and special forces officers, and UNESCO representatives to plan coordinated efforts to stabilize, preserve and protect the damaged cultural sites in ISIS impacted areas. 

​To read the full Smithsonian.com article and view videos about the graduating class and first aid efforts focused on cultural heritage in times of crisis, click here. To visit the IICAH website, click here.