Archinect - News

Olafur Eliasson's inaugural Shinan Art Island Project installation opens in South Korea

2024-12-11T13:05:00-05:00

Olafur Eliasson has shared photos of the new Breathing earth sphere immersive installation project in Shinan County, South Korea. The installation is the first to be created for the larger Shinan Art Island Project on the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site listed archipelago that will bring different artists and designers together to create a special destination experience under the banner '1 Island, 1 Museum.'

Photo: courtesy of Kyungsub Shin

Visitors will first arrive at the domed space on top of Docho Island via a tree-line approach that takes them to a contemplative resting place framed by a single Hackberry tree.

Photo: courtesy of Kyungsub Shin

From there, the installation is accessed from an entry point embedded within the hillside and leading to the inside of a spherical subterranean space lined in lava stone and a tri-color palette of tiles that offer the illusion of three-dimensionality and physical impression of "tumbling through space."

Photo: courtesy of Kyungsub Shin

As ...

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."

New Beijing Performing Arts Center rises from its historic waterside site with curtain-like forms

2024-09-11T16:40:00-04:00

A new performing arts complex designed by Perkins&Will, in partnership with Schmidt Hammer Lassen, has opened in Beijing. Located in the city’s southeast district, Tongzhou, the Beijing Performing Arts Center sits along the banks of the Grand Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, anchoring a recently designated cultural district, which also includes a museum, a library, and extensive parklands.

Image: Zhu Yumeng

The roughly 1.3 million-square-foot complex comprises an opera house, a theater, and a concert hall, along with a multipurpose hall and an outdoor stage.

Image: Zhu Yumeng

Its design recalls the site’s history as a commercial shipping and storage hub by referencing the rooflines of the storehouses that formerly populated the area and the sails of traditional canal boats. The forms also evoke a theater curtain parting at the start of a performance.

Image: Zhu Yumeng

The Center’s structures are unified through a broad, elevated platform that can be accessed from ...

UNESCO assessing impact of skyscrapers on Tower of London

2024-08-07T19:29:00-04:00

The Tower of London’s status as a world heritage site may be at risk due to the influx of new skyscrapers in central London. UNESCO has requested that the UK government submit a State of Conservation Report that addresses the historic site’s preservation and the threat of increased high-rise buildings in the area. As reported by the BBC, a UNESCO spokesperson said the request was due to concerns about “cumulative impacts” from nearby high-rise developments and insufficient protection of the Tower’s “outstanding universal value”.

Previously on Archinect: The City of London skyline is expected to add these eleven towers by 2030

Concerns were initially raised by the English historic preservation body, Historic England, regarding City Plan 2040, the City of London Corporation’s (CLC) draft policies for new office, residential buildings, and overall development. Historic England believes these policies are likely to “severely harm” the likes of the Tower of London. On the other hand, depu...

UK gov't cancels long-controversial highway tunnel project near Stonehenge

2024-07-30T16:59:00-04:00

The British government’s plans to construct a new two-mile underground tunnel near the Stonehenge UNESCO World Heritage site have been called off in what’s being framed as a major victory for preservationists.

The BBC has more on the late budgetary decision, which ends a yearslong legal back-and-forth between local campaigners and National Highways. The issue had, at one point, threatened its protected status. A campaigner with Stonehenge Alliance told The Art Newspaper: "This entire monstrous project, a proposal to drive a gash of concrete and tarmac through our most sacred prehistoric landscape, should never have got off the drawing board."

UNESCO survey verifies 341 damaged cultural sites across Ukraine

2024-02-15T17:35:00-05:00

UNESCO has verified nearly 30 dozen damaged cultural sites across Ukraine in a new survey meant to shed light on the extent to which the cost of war has left an impact on the nation’s spiritual landscape and intellectual heritage over the past two full years.

Kharkiv and Donetsk led the list of regions with the most damaged sites, totaling 56 and 87, respectively. The list counts a total of 341 sites, another 39 of which are in the Kyiv capital region. UNESCO officials compiled their tally from a number of on-the-ground sources. This is apparently meant to be a preliminary damage assessment that will hereafter be updated on a regular basis once the process for reporting is established.

The new survey counted 126 religious sites, 150 buildings of historical and/or artistic interest, 31 museums, 19 monuments, 14 libraries, and one archive. Among the most significant damaged sites are the National Palace of Arts in Kyiv and many buildings in the endangered historic city center of Ode...

Stefano Boeri reveals master plan for vast sacred Buddhist site in Nepal

2023-12-15T18:15:00-05:00

Stefano Boeri Architetti has unveiled a master plan to enhance the Ramagrama Stupa, one of the most significant places in the Buddhist world.

The site is located in Ramagrama, a municipality within the Parasi district in western Nepal. The archaeological destination dates back to the earliest period of the Buddhist tradition. It is covered by a hill and by the centuries-old Bodhi Tree, a sacred tree in Buddhism characterized by a high level of biodiversity. Under this lies a still intact Stupa of Buddha, which is a dirt burial mound faced with stone that contains portions of the relics of Buddha. Today, the site presents itself as a green mound.

Image: Stefano Boeri Architetti

Various organizations and Buddhist communities have committed themselves to the preservation and sustainable enhancement of the Ramagrama Stupa. The aim has been to conserve this site in accordance with the standards set by UNESCO for World Heritage Sites. Stefano Boeri Architetti has, thus, been entrusted wit...

Bologna unveils plan to reinforce 12th-century leaning tower

2023-12-08T18:30:00-05:00

Work to prevent the collapse of a leaning medieval tower in the heart of the northern Italian city of Bologna will cost €20m ($21.5m) and take 10 years at least, its mayor has said. Last weekend, the city unveiled a €4.3m (£3.7m) project to shore up the Garisenda tower – one of the city’s two towers that look out over central Bologna, providing inspiration over the centuries to painters and poets and a lookout spot during conflicts.

The Garisenda Tower, like the Tower of Pisa, has leaned for centuries as the ground on which it was built gave way soon after its construction. It slants at four degrees compared to 3.9 degrees the Tower of Pisa leans at. Last month, the area around the Garisenda Tower was cordoned off due to increasing concerns about its potential to collapse. Bologna’s mayor, Matteo Lepore, claims that the time to restore the structure will match the 10 years it took to reinforce the Tower of Pisa.

Built in the 12th century, the Garisenda Tower, which stands at approximately 157 feet, sits alongside the taller, and also leaning, Asinelli Tower. As reported by The Guardian, Italy’s civil protection agency has issued a “yellow” alert for the area around the two towers indicating the space is under watch. However, they aren’t believed to pose any immediate risks to people’s safety. The mayor has also urged the government to work to make the towers UNESCO World Heritage sites. Work to reinforce the to...

Francis Kéré designs new virtual museum of stolen artifacts for UNESCO

2023-10-17T16:03:00-04:00

Francis Kéré has been announced as the architect of a new virtual museum of stolen cultural artifacts for UNESCO. The project will exhibit 3D versions of the objects while at the same time elevating the voices and narratives of the global communities from which they were taken.

Renderings released along with its announcement show a large transparent dome with gallery spaces lining a Guggenheim-like spiraling central ramp, inspired by the African baobab tree.

Image courtesy of UNESCO/Kéré Architecture

The 52,000 works displayed were digitally rendered using the Stolen Works of Art database of INTERPOL, the international police organization that tracks the trafficking of looted cultural artifacts globally.

Image courtesy of UNESCO/Kéré Architecture

UNESCO says this will become a "tool to raise awareness on the illicit trafficking and the importance of protecting cultural heritage among the relevant authorities, culture professionals, and the general public, notably young generations...

UNESCO urges UK not to proceed with Stonehenge tunnels project

2023-09-26T11:34:00-04:00

The A303 redevelopment proposal had originally garnered the attention of preservation advocates beginning in 2017 and eventually yielded a favorable ruling from the UK High Court in 2021, the same year UNESCO first threatened to add the site to its list of World Heritage in Danger.

Adding to the narrative, UNESCO has now openly criticized the UK government's recent decision to proceed with the contentious project. The UK's transport secretary, Mark Harper, sanctioned the scheme earlier this year, setting its initial cost at a staggering £1.7bn. This tunnel, which is proposed to be two miles in length, is alarmingly close to the ancient and revered site of Stonehenge in Wiltshire.

National Highways insists its plan will "conserve and enhance" the area while addressing a notorious traffic bottleneck. UNESCO’s requests center on placing the tunnel entrances at longer intervals so as to not disturb the site’s existing landscape. In a statement, the project manager for the overhaul said...

UNESCO adds 42 new sites to World Heritage list

2023-09-22T13:06:00-04:00

The outcome of the 45th session of the committee has also been notable, however, for the places not approved for protection. On Friday, members voted against the notion that Venice be added to the heritage list. This was despite the recommendation of the World Heritage Centre (WHC), the convention’s permanent secretariat, which argued the city was at risk due to factors including mass tourism and climate change.

A total of 42 new sites were added at the ongoing special session held in Riyadh this month. Three Ukrainian sites, including the 11th-century Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, were also added last week at the start of the 15-day meeting.

The body’s recommendations to add Venice to the list of World Heritage in Danger sites was also denied at the outset, keeping it away from the dubious position despite criticism that city officials — who’ve just adopted a nominal daily entry fee trial — aren’t doing enough to resolve “long-standing but urgent issues” stemming from tourists’ overcrowding and climate change.

Moroccan heritage sites severely impacted by recent earthquake

2023-09-12T17:28:00-04:00

Several Unesco World Heritage sites have been severely damaged by the recent earthquake in Morocco. [...] As the death toll climbs, so too will revelations of damaged heritage sites, as Morocco’s fragile patrimony—especially in less accessible rural areas—bears the brunt of the earthquake alongside the nation.

Following the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Morocco's Marrakesh–Safi region on September 8, the assessment of devastation — both human and cultural — continues.

As The Art Newspaper reports, several significant heritage sites have been severely damaged or almost entirely destroyed, including the 12th-century Great Mosque of Tinmal as well as Marrakesh's historic Kharbouch and Kutubiyya mosques.

Authorities have confirmed over 2,900 deaths, with thousands more injured and without shelter.

Venice to begin seeking €5 daily admission fees from tourists

2023-09-07T12:02:00-04:00

The ability for Venice to charge a nominal €5 ($5.35 USD) daily entrance fee to tourists has been granted to the city, giving officials the final go-ahead for a response they say is ultimately necessary to preserve its architectural heritage from the threats of climate change and overcrowding.

The city council’s decision comes after a protracted debate over its implementation since the idea was first introduced in 2019. CNN has reported the experiment will start first with a 30-day trial period before being formally adopted early next year, limited to only the “peak days” of the busy tourist season. The likely result is for the quality of life of residents to be improved, proponents say while encouraging other popular international destinations to potentially follow suit.

“The message we want to put across is that Venice is open, but visitors must understand that we need proper planning to manage the balance between residence and tourism,” Councilor Michele Zuin said in a statement....

UNESCO experts recommend adding Venice to heritage danger list

2023-08-01T11:15:00-04:00

[Update, September 14th, 2023: Despite this recommendation, UNESCO ultimately voted not to place Venice on its World Heritage in Danger list]

Experts from UNESCO, the cultural agency of the United Nations, have recommended adding Venice to its World Heritage in Danger list. As reported by Reuters, officials from the UNESCO World Heritage Centre made the recommendation with a view that Italy was not doing enough to protect the city from the impacts of climate change and mass tourism.

Both the city and its lagoon would be added to the list under the recommendation. Other sites recommended for the list are the historic centers of Kyiv, Lviv, and Odesa in Ukraine, the town of Timbuktu in Mali, and several sites across Syria, Iraq, and Libya. The final decision will be made at a meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre in Riyadh in September.

"Resolution of long-standing but urgent issues is hindered by a lack of overall joint strategic vision for the long-term preservation of the prop...

Carlo Ratti Associati blends old and new with the theories of Piranesi for its latest Italian design

2023-07-19T18:57:00-04:00

Carlo Ratti Associati has unveiled design details for its latest hospitality sector collaboration with Italo Rota located at the Monferrato UNESCO World Heritage site in Italy.

The studio’s new Roccia project reimagines a hilltop former monastery site in Piedmont into a new residential complex. The project relies on LIDAR scans to enable a new digitally-fabricated timber skin to be inserted amongst the 400-year-old brick ruins. CRA says this element of their design strategy “suggests a new approach for renovating historical buildings" while resolving a “harmony” between the natural and artificial.

Image render courtesy Carlo Ratti Associati

The team describes: "Roccia – the Italian word for “rock” – is a hilltop monastery-turned-farmhouse in the heart of the Piedmontese countryside. The site has been in decay since a fire broke out in the early 20th century. Decades of neglect have further deteriorated the bricks and invited moss, ivy and saplings to set in. Its current conditions ev...

Iraq's Mosul Cultural Museum partially reopens following yearslong restoration

2023-06-12T18:01:00-04:00

The Mosul Cultural Museum was targeted and almost destroyed by the so-called Islamic State (Isis) when the terrorist group took over the Iraqi city in 2014. Less than a decade later, the partially restored museum has restarted its activities once again.

The museum won’t fully reopen until the reconstruction is completed in 2026 following the plans of its original architect, Mohamed Makiya. It joins a slate of other important restoration projects in the city, led by the somewhat controversial UNESCO-backed reconstructions of Al-Nouri Mosque, Our Lady of the Hour Church, and some 124 historic houses.

Several tens of thousands of buildings in Mosul are believed to have been severely damaged or destroyed during the three-year ISIS occupation.

The Art Newspaper also reports that the World Monuments Fund has signed on to oversee the museum project, which will at least partially undo changes made to the museum in 2008.

The toll on heritage sites in Turkey and Syria following the February earthquakes is staggering

2023-02-28T12:28:00-05:00

The catastrophic events have devastated countless heritage structures, archaeological areas and religious sites, many still active places of worship, across an area so vast that it encompasses ten Turkish provinces and impacts more than 13 million people. Though less extensively reported, damage to heritage sites is most significant in the southernmost province of Hatay. The city centre of Antakya [...] has been almost completely flattened.

The World Bank estimates the total physical damage in Turkey to be approximately $34.2 billion. The Gaziantep Castle, a 2nd-century fortress later expanded under Emperor Justinian, and Aleppo's ancient Citadel in neighboring Syria are perhaps the most significant historic sites to be heavily damaged.

All told, there were at least 173,000 structures destroyed or damaged across Turkey as a result of the outmoded building codes and blatant corruption within the construction industry.

For their part, UNESCO says they are “mobilizing [...] experts, in conjunction with its partners such as ICOMOS, to establish a precise inventory of the damage, if there is any, to safeguard these sites with the cooperation of national authorities, while being aware that their priority at this stage is emergency disaster, rescue and relief.”

Malta's chamber of architects lays out guidelines for development near ancient Megalithic temples

2023-02-23T15:25:00-05:00

The chamber of architects has issued guidelines for its members working on projects close to Megalithic temples. “As professionals in the field of architecture and engineering, it is imperative that we approach the design and planning of development projects within the buffer zones of UNESCO World Heritage Sites with the utmost care and sensitivity,” the chamber said.

This is the first time Malta’s chamber of architects and civil engineers, Kamra tal-Periti (KTP) has introduced these types of rules for UNESCO buffer zones, areas around sites with legal and customary restrictions on their use and development to protect them. KTP’s directive lays out the limitations on developments that can be carried out within the buffer zones of Megalithic temples in Malta. It also provides guidance on how to develop in compliance with the guidelines.

KTP has required that only development consistent with the purpose and intent of the buffer zones and the UNESCO World Heritage Convention can be carried out within the buffer zones designated for the Megalithic temples. Development must also be of a scale and design that aligns with the international architectural and cultural heritage value of the temples and their buffer zones. Additionally, all development within Malta’s buffer zones must be in compliance with the relevant international conservation charters, ...

UNESCO adds three heritage sites to its 'in-danger' list

2023-01-26T12:15:00-05:00

The historic center of the Ukrainian port city of Odesa and sites in Yemen and Lebanon were added to the World Heritage List Wednesday by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). All three sites were simultaneously added to UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger. The statement said that the decision would give Ukraine access to “technical and financial international assistance” to protect and rehabilitate the city center.

Both the Yemeni site and, of course, Odesa were placed under the category in response to the ongoing conflicts afflicting both countries. The latter being of constant "grave concern” to the UN’s cultural body since its inception 11 months ago.

The third site, Rachid Karami International Fair in Tripoli, was designed by Oscar Niemeyer prior to the beginning of his exile from Brazil in the early 1960s. It had been left unfinished as a result of the long Lebanese Civil War that began in 1975. UNESCO’s nomination text cites “[an] alarming state of conservation, the lack of financial resources for its maintenance, and the latent risk of development proposals” as the reason for its inscription.

Getty Trust releases $1 million to help Ukraine's fight to preserve its cultural heritage

2022-11-09T16:50:00-05:00

A new $1 million grant from the J. Paul Getty Trust is being advanced to the International alliance for the protection of heritage in conflict areas (ALIPH) to ensure the protection of vulnerable cultural sites across Ukraine that have come under fire since the Russian Federation’s illegal invasion began in February.

The new round of funding helps support the existing Ukrainian Action Plan, which has so far allocated some $3 million towards similar projects in the country under threat from the war and impending winter chill.

UNESCO has thus far identified some 204 cultural sites (up from June’s figure of 139) that have suffered some amount of damage due to conflict. The monies will therefore be spent towards implementing climate-controlled storage methods and improving security measures at museums and other cultural institutions, deployment of “preventive conservation methods”, and preparation of stabilization methods for sites that could come under fire in the future.

Related on A...

LA's Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Hollyhock House to reopen on August 18th

2022-08-10T12:58:00-04:00

Los Angeles' historic Hollyhock House will reopen to the public on Aug. 18, city officials announced. LA City Councilman Mitch O'Farrell and the Department of Cultural Affairs will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony that day to celebrate the return of in-person, self-guided tours.

The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home closed its doors at the start of the pandemic in early 2020. During this time, LA's Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) embarked on “significant transformations” at the Hollyhock House and Residence A, a guest house (also designed by Wright) located at the same site. The property saw conservation work on its cast stone, art glass windows, woodwork, and landscape. In addition, the home’s prominent fireplace was restored, and two Wright-designed sofas were reinstalled.

Previously on Archinect: Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House to reopen once again in February

The reopening aligns with the centennial of the iconic home, which was constructed between 1919 and 1921. Wright’s first LA project, it is the city’s first and only UNESCO World Heritage Site .

The Hollyhock House has undergone a significant renewal before: From 2005 to 2015, it was subject to an extensive renovation process, which focused on restoring the home and its details to its origi...

SOM to reimagine visitor experience at Egypt's pyramids and sphinx

2022-07-26T19:02:00-04:00

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and Egyptian practice Raafat Miller Consulting (RMC) have been selected to reimagine the visitor experience for the popular sound and light show attraction at the site of the ancient Pyramids and the Sphinx in Giza, Egypt.

The pair were appointed by OSL for Entertainment Projects, an Orascom Investment Holding Company (OIH). SOM will act as lead designer for the concept, design, and master plan for the project. Existing facilities will be enhanced with contemporary interventions in order to establish a world-class visitor experience while respecting unique environmental and preservation requirements.

“Visiting Giza is a rare, transformative experience that offers a glimpse into centuries of human history. As one of the Seven Wonders of the World, Giza welcomes millions of people every year,” SOM design partner Chris Cooper commented on the commission. “In reimagining the experience, our priority is to honor and preserve its history and create a sus...

This Tel Aviv residential project blends two contemporary buildings with a historic villa

2022-07-26T17:41:00-04:00

Tel Aviv-based Bar Orian Architects has unveiled a new residential project that blends past and present by integrating two contemporary buildings with a historic, early 20th-century villa.

The development, titled Villa Rothschild, sits along Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard. The original structure known as the Beit Awad Villa was designed in 1926 by Russian architect Joseph Berlin. The Eclectic-era building is part of Tel Aviv’s “White City,” which comprises a collection of over 4,000 buildings designed in the Bauhaus style and is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Photo: Amit Geron

The two new building additions in Villa Rothschild each stand seven stories and feature penthouses, a fifth-floor villa, and two garden villas. The pre-existing Beit Awad Villa was marked for preservation under Tel Aviv’s preservation plan and zoning policies, so Bar Orian Architects were restricted from making any changes to the building apart from an addition to the basement floor. In order to...

Mud, the world's ancient building material, deserves to have a bright future

2022-07-21T18:23:00-04:00

Even though the buildings in Sana'a are thousands of years old, they remain "terribly contemporary", says Salma Samar Damluji, co-founder of the Daw'an Mud Brick Architecture Foundation in Yemen. Damluji says it is easy to see why these mud buildings have not lost their appeal – they are well-insulated, sustainable and extremely adaptable for modern use. "It is the architecture of the future," says Damluji.

Yemen’s largest city Sana'a may even supplant Franis Kéré's home country as the world’s leading rammed earth capital, with a host of stunning, UNESCO-protected sites scattered around its Old City area. The material is one of many in an arsenal of alternatives being used to combat high temperatures and reduce global carbon footprints, a scant 5% of which can be attributed to all 54 African nations, as the Pritzker Prize winner pointed out last week in a preview of his own locally-sourced designs for the Triennale di Milano.

Earlier on Archinect: Francis Kéré and others are attempting to muddy up the rising use of concrete in West Africa

Elsewhere in the world, the BBC's Future Planet offers Austrian architect Anna Heringer’s Aga Khan Award-winning METI handmade school design in Bangladesh as a contemporary example of its successful export and application. As she and others pointed out, mud's ability to circumvent the need for more air-conditioning on a warming planet is a huge selling...

This glass pavilion atop Greenland UNESCO World Heritage site celebrates Inuit culture and heritage

2022-07-20T14:54:00-04:00

A recent project designed and built by Swedish architect Konstantin Ikonomidis located within a UNESCO World Heritage site in Greenland celebrates Inuit cultural heritage and traditional knowledge of the environment.

Called the Qaammat pavilion, the structure is situated in Sarafannguit, a cultural landscape in West Greenland and a World Heritage site since 2018. It was developed in cooperation with UNESCO, the Qeqqata Municipality, and the Sisimiut Museum.

Image: Julien Lanoo

The pavilion’s location is defined by the two fjords that meet on Sarfannguit’s eastern tip on the hills. This was carefully chosen by the local community, site manager Paninnguaq Fleischer-Lyberth and Ikonomidis. The installation will serve as a landmark and gathering space where the World Heritage site’s surroundings can be experienced by locals and visitors.

Image: Julien Lanoo

As per the architect's project description: “The Qaammat pavilion is designed as a poetic and aesthetic object, but most important...

More damage reported at Hagia Sophia as conversion impacts grow

2022-06-30T16:55:00-04:00

A number of marble tiles on the floor of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, which was turned back into a mosque in 2020 after serving as a historical museum for decades, have reportedly been cracked by heavy machinery used to clean the building last week.

“It’s like a fairground now,” one tour guide reportedly told the Turkish opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet in reference to the change in status that occurred in 2020, when the site was reconverted into a mosque and conferred back into the auspices of the Department of Religious Affairs following an edict from President Recep Erdoğan.

The conversion of one of its original World Heritage Sites has drawn the ire of UNESCO, who says it is “gravely concerned.” In the past, Erdoğan, who is facing a potential unseating in the elections next year, has called the project “a symbol of the re-rising of the sun of our civilization.”

UNESCO releases a new list of damaged cultural sites across Ukraine

2022-06-08T18:26:00-04:00

The UN’s official cultural body UNESCO has issued a new report documenting damage to an alarming amount of historic sites, monuments, and structures since the beginning of the Russian Federation’s criminal invasion of Ukraine began in late February.

The organization has verified that 139 sites have suffered damage since that time, a combined total of 62 religious sites, 12 museums, 26 historic buildings, 17 cultural buildings, 15 monuments, and 7 libraries, including the Babyn Yar Holocaust remembrance site in Kyiv, which have come under Russian bombs and artillery shells as the conflict shifts from a three-pronged invasion to a more targeted offensive focused in the eastern Donbas region.

Somewhat remarkably, none of the country’s sites listed on the organization’s official log of protected cultural property have been impacted or targeted by Russian shelling, the latter act being...

UNESCO's restoration of Iraq's historic Al-Nouri mosque site has been placed on hold

2022-04-18T14:07:00-04:00

The UNESCO-led effort to restore the historic Al-Nouri Mosque in Mosul has come to a halt this week after recent discoveries and feedback from the community have prompted a change of direction from the cultural agency.

The Art Newspaper reports that the restoration was placed on hold after months of highly public criticism leading up to January’s discovery of a 12th-century prayer hall and ritual ablution rooms underneath the mosque’s interior core.

The original plans. Rendering by Salah El Din Samir Hareedy and team

The team of Egyptian architects selected last spring to oversee the overhaul will now redraw its plans for a glass-paneled modern update to the hall. Other major changes are reported to include the scrapping of a car park in favor of a new Institute for Islamic Art and Architecture and the re-installation of original the original brick pattern to form the mosque’s famed “hunchback” minaret. Exterior elements like sun shading will be thrown out as well. The Sunni religio...

Forensic Architecture's latest investigation is a dig at one-sided Israeli archaeological pursuits

2022-04-13T12:14:00-04:00

Fresh off its recent Peabody Award win, London-based Forensic Architecture (FA) has returned to one of its most popular research sites with a new project, called “Living Archaeology in Gaza,” examining the fate of an important archaeological site under assault in the Gaza Strip.

The site in question was tentatively added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites in 2012 but has since been closed off to further archaeological research and beset by damaging new construction. The group examined ten years' worth of data collected by the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem between 1995 and 2005 to produce 3D renderings of an ancient city called Anthedon that existed for two millennia until about the High Middle Ages.

Image: Forensic Architecture

What they discovered was that Israeli bombing and consolidation, combined with climate change-caused coastal erosion, has placed a considerable strain on the site, which counts among its ruins examples of building from the Byzant...

3D scanning is helping Ukrainians' risky fight to preserve their cultural heritage

2022-04-12T13:06:00-04:00

People in Ukraine are using 3D modeling tech to preserve cultural heritage sites — before they risk being destroyed by the Russian invasion. The project, called Backup Ukraine, was organized by smartphone camera capture app Polycam, which partnered with The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Vice Media Group, Danish non-profit Blue Shield Danmark, Ukraine’s Heritage Emergency Rescue Initiative, and the National Museum of the History of Ukraine.

Ukrainians’ makeshift efforts to hastily secure and protect vital sites across their country have become increasingly important given Russia’s well-documented pursuit of a Total War concept which has put civilian centers under the crosshairs with damage to residential infrastructure and cultural property becoming a frequent if not inherent result.

Users of the Polycam app can upload their scans to Backup Ukraine's project website, which will host the 3D replicas for a period of at least five years. Photogrammetry has been incorporated previously in conflicts like the Syrian Civil War that featured the deliberate targeting of monuments and other cultural relics. The U.S. Army is one prominent proponent. And it has been used recently in less-lethal disputes and the fight against climate change.