Archinect - News

Lebanon has 34 cultural sites placed under UNESCO protection

2024-11-26T16:45:00-05:00

The cross-border Israeli military confrontation with Hezbollah has induced UNESCO to take drastic action by declaring 34 cultural properties in Lebanon to be under provisional enhanced protection, according to a new announcement from the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property.

The action mirrors another made by UNESCO last year to add heritage sites in Ukraine and Palestine to its Enhanced Protection List (to which Lebanon previously had no entries). Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO’s two-term Director-General, says: "UNESCO has a deep and long-standing cooperation with Lebanon. We will spare no effort to provide all the expertise and assistance needed to protect its exceptional heritage."

The UK is once again declining to change its stance on the Parthenon Marbles following a UNESCO statement

2021-10-06T16:43:00-04:00

The fate of the British Museum’s heavily contested Parthenon Marbles (also referred to as the Elgin Marbles) has once again come under clout after the UK decided to reject UNESCO’s request to reassess its position on repatriating the 2,500-year-old relics to their country of origin.

The UK is continuing on their insistence that the marbles were acquired through a legal means in the form of a contested firman granted to their namesake the Earl of Elgin by the Ottoman Empire around 1801.

The UN’s cultural arm had issued a statement at a recent ICPRCP meeting outlining its position that the dispute indeed constitutes an “intergovernmental issue” and not, as both the government and museum claim, an institutional one that can be sorted out “independently of the government and free from political interference,” according to UK officials.

Previously on Archinect: Brexit could force British Museum to return Parthenon Marbles to Greece

“The Museum is a unique resource for the world: the brea...

Grand Egyptian Museum heads toward completion

2020-08-14T14:23:00-04:00

A $1 billion museum complex situated on the Giza plain overlooking the Great Pyramids is nearing completion in Egypt after a nearly decade-long delay.

The massive structure, initially planned by Irish firm Heneghan Peng Architects, is being completed now, The Art Newspaper reports, under the direction of Major General Atef Moftah, an official appointed in 2016 by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to finish the project. Moftah, who is a trained engineer, has taken over executing the design of the complex and has adapted the initial proposal to speed up construction and lower costs, the report states.

View of the massive statue of Ramses the Great installed in the museum's atrium. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia user Djehouty.

The Art Newspaper explains that the structure is "96.5% complete" and will make its global debut sometime in 2021.

The massive museum complex will contain over 5,000 artifacts discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamen as well as a large collection of ancient stat...

Archaeologists discover ring of Neolithic sites encircling Stonehenge

2020-06-22T13:39:00-04:00

A new archaeological discovery at the site of an ancient village near Stonehenge promises to offer significant clues about life more than 4,500 years ago in the Neolithic period, and could even “write a whole new chapter in the story” of the celebrated structure’s landscape, experts say.

Archaeologists working through the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project have discovered a neolithic site near Stonehenge that could shed new light on how ancient human societies lived. The research team utilized magnetic remote sensing technologies to scan the site without having to dig and were able, as a result, to construct digital maps showing a two kilometer wide ring of pits surrounding the Stonehenge site dating approximately to 2500 BCE.

National Trust for Historic Preservation names new CEO

2019-06-24T19:51:00-04:00

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has named preservation lawyer and National Trust chief legal officer Paul Edmondson as its new CEO.

In a statement announcing Edmondson's selection, Timothy Whalen, chair of the National Trust Board of Trustees, writes, "Through the search, the Trust’s Board identified Paul as the person who, owing to his experience, his lifelong commitment to preservation, and his integrity, is perfectly suited to lead the National Trust. The Board embraces him with great enthusiasm and complete unanimity."

Edmondson's experience with the National Trust includes fighting to strengthen the enforcement and interpretation of preservation law, including a campaign to remove a large power transmission line from the James River near Jamestown, Virginia. Edmondson has also advocated for protecting archeological and cultural resources on public lands, like those located at the Bears Ears National Monument. Over the years, Edmondson has worked to improve the Nat...

Snøhetta’s Museum Quarter project will give “Ötzi the Iceman” a new home

2019-03-01T18:21:00-05:00

Snøhetta has announced their new project proposal for the Museum Quarter in Bolzano. Nestled within Bolzano's capital in Northern Italy the building's location is set to be on top of Virgolo/Virgil Mountain. In conjunction with Bolzano's new cable car structure, also designed by Snøhetta, the new landmark will serve as an immersive public space for the city's inhabitants.

The museum's future site has a significant historical significance to the capital. In 1976, the city's history funicular closed which made the mountains access unavailable to the public. From its lush green space to the prehistoric and Roman traces of the South Tyrolean capitol the museum will allow for the space to become accessible to visitors after nearly forty years. The Museum Quarter will also accommodate the South Tyrol Museum of Archeology an...

Ancient ramp discovery could help explain construction of Egyptian Pyramids

2018-11-06T18:48:00-05:00

The mystery of how, exactly, the pyramids were built may have come a step closer to being unravelled after a team of archaeologists made a chance discovery in an ancient Egyptian quarry. Scientists researching ancient inscriptions happened upon a ramp with stairways and a series of what they believe to be postholes, which suggest that the job of hauling into place the huge blocks of stone used to build the monuments may have been completed more quickly than previously thought.

The theory of ancient Egyptians using ramps to move the enormous stone blocks to build the Great Pyramids of Giza some 4,500 years ago has been around for a while, but this new discovery suggests the possibility of a significantly steeper ramp angle and shorter construction period than commonly assumed.

Archeologists uncover the secret of the Great Pyramid

2017-09-26T15:29:00-04:00

Archaeologists believe they have found the key to unlocking a mystery almost as old as the Great Pyramid itself: Who built the structure and how were they able to transport two-ton blocks of stone to the ancient wonder more than 4,500 years ago?

The pyramid's stones were known to have been transported from over 500 miles away but archeologists did not agree on how ancient Egyptians achieved it . Recent discoveries suggest that the stones were transported using boats and a network of waterways leading to the site of the pyramid in Giza.