Sponsored by
Lipman Karas LLP
Organised by
Iran Heritage Foundation
Date
Wednesday 16th December 2015, 9.30am - 6.30pm
Location
Asia House, 63 New Cavendish Street, London W1G 7LP
Conference Committee
Dr John Curtis (IHF), Dr Bijan Rouhani (ICOMOS), Astrid Johansen (IHF)
Description
The recent destruction of cultural heritage in the Middle East has been on an unprecedented scale, without parallel in the history of the world. The damage to the famous sites of Nimrud, Hatra and Palmyra has been much publicised, but the destruction of countless churches, monasteries, shrines and mosques has been largely overlooked. The destruction of cultural legacy, not just of the region but of the whole world, is irreparable.
Much has already been lost, but is enough being done to protect what remains? It is gratifying that there have already been a number of conferences, seminars and workshops to highlight these problems, and more are planned, but there is certainly scope to draw further attention to the current disastrous situation. For this reason, the Iran Heritage Foundation has brought together a number of speakers to discuss the individual regions, but the intention is to make this conference rather different to others on the subject by also considering controversial issues such as the motivation of ISIS, iconoclasm in the Islamic tradition, the reaction of the media to the crisis, and the possibilities of military intervention. An important aspect will be to look at the international and UK response to the crisis and ask if it has been appropriate and adequate.
While Iran is not directly affected by the swathe of the destruction across the Middle East, it is part of the region and just like Turkey it cannot ignore what is happening on its borders. There is the added incentive that some of the destroyed monuments were created in times of Iranian overlordship or show Iranian influences. The IHF is therefore eminently suited to host such a conference.
Much has already been lost, but is enough being done to protect what remains? It is gratifying that there have already been a number of conferences, seminars and workshops to highlight these problems, and more are planned, but there is certainly scope to draw further attention to the current disastrous situation. For this reason, the Iran Heritage Foundation has brought together a number of speakers to discuss the individual regions, but the intention is to make this conference rather different to others on the subject by also considering controversial issues such as the motivation of ISIS, iconoclasm in the Islamic tradition, the reaction of the media to the crisis, and the possibilities of military intervention. An important aspect will be to look at the international and UK response to the crisis and ask if it has been appropriate and adequate.
While Iran is not directly affected by the swathe of the destruction across the Middle East, it is part of the region and just like Turkey it cannot ignore what is happening on its borders. There is the added incentive that some of the destroyed monuments were created in times of Iranian overlordship or show Iranian influences. The IHF is therefore eminently suited to host such a conference.
Programme
