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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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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. — Artnet News
“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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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.
— Futurism
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... View full entry
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine presses on into its fourth week, volunteers and cultural workers, a number of whom are also at arms, are rushing to erect makeshift barriers and other forms of protection against what could be a demoralizing strike against heritage sites across the embattled... View full entry
Unesco said it is “gravely concerned” about damage caused by Russia’s invasion forces in the cities of Kharkiv and Chernihiv and called for the protection of Ukrainian cultural heritage, including the country’s seven World Heritage sites. — The Art Newspaper
Ukraine currently has seven landmarks on the UN cultural body’s list of World Heritage Sites (not including the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial site that was bombed on March 1st, which they also condemned). Odessa and Kharkiv are also members of the organization’s Creative Cities Network... View full entry
An online space called Virtual Bradford is set to be completed this summer that would provide a high-resolution 3D online “brick-for-brick” digital twin of Bradford, England’s city center. The project is a collaboration between the University of Bradford and the Bradford Council. It is... View full entry
Marriott International has announced plans to open two luxury hotels in Saudi Arabia’s Diriyah. The properties will be located near the Unesco World Heritage site at At-Turaif, offering views of the historic town of Diriyah on the outskirts of Riyadh. — The National
The Saudi crown prince recently reiterated his intentions to finalize the planned 2030 development strategy for Riyadh, which would more than double the population of the country's capital backed by a public-private partnership worth approximately $500 billion at a low estimate. Marriott says the... View full entry
The world’s premier techno capital is back under the grip of the pandemic, but that hasn’t stopped its vanguard from seeking a special status for venues like the Berghain from an international cultural organization with a reputation for being as formidable as its famous bouncer. The Guardian... View full entry
“Despite its vast size, sub-Saharan Africa has never been proportionately represented on Unesco’s world heritage list…
Now, the first African to be made head of the world heritage centre has said that needs to change – and fast. Lazare Eloundou Assomo, a Cameroonian who led the reconstruction of the Timbuktu mausoleums after they were badly damaged in 2012 by Islamist fighters allied to al-Qaida, has said it will be a priority of his time in office.”
— The Guardian
Africa is currently the least represented continent (behind the Arab nations) in terms of the representation of cultural sites on the U.N. list, though it does account for 30% of all sites the organization considers to be endangered. Assomo was appointed as Director earlier this month and told The... View full entry
Do leopards change their spots? One only has to look at the command structure of the Taliban and their supporters to feel that there won’t be much of a change from 2001—and it might well be worse. [...]
Much of the archaeological landscape has simply gone. Many of the Buddhist monuments were dynamited in 2001, partly in search of portable antiquities to loot.
— The Art Newspaper
Some of Afghanistan's museums had reportedly begun preparations months ago, others are at a loss as fear and paranoia grips what remains of civil society after a 20-year occupation. The city of Herat poses a special risk as its educational heritage and historic citadel have led some to the... View full entry