The Cultural Heritage Of Syria

Though World War II was awful in every respect, and it led to the destruction of many priceless works of art, there are some examples of beauty emerging form the chaos. One such example come from the work Dean Keller. Keller was one of many “monuments men” who were given the daunting task of the preservation of art during the war. The monuments men had little resources yet they prevailed in their efforts of protecting much of the art at risk during the war. The thought that the allies had the forethought to take earnest efforts to respect the history and culture that comes from these great European works of art, is a glimpse of the beauty that emerged during this time of turmoil. At the end of the war, Dean Keller led the Americans in returning the art they had gathered for protection. This was received by great crowds of emotional Florentine’s grateful for the return of their stolen history. This scene of compassion and gratitude

Syria is a Middle Eastern country located on the Mediterranean Sea, bordered by Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, and Lebanon. To people in the West, Syria is most likely known for violence, terrorism, and conflict because that is what the media portrays. However, it is one of the oldest inhabited regions in the world and is rich with culture and history. From Bible references noting, “The road to Damascus” to Ottoman control in 1516 to Bashar al-Assad taking control in 2000, Syria has seen periods of peace but has been plagued with many years of instability throughout its history and especially in recent years. This essay will discuss the events leading to the uprisings, the current situation, and possible peaceful resolutions.

Syria’s civil war is the worst humanitarian crisis of modern time. The “Syrian Civil war Began in March of 2011, between rebel brigades and government force; economy and infrastructure is destroyed” (Library, 2016). “Divisions between secular and religious fighters, and between ethnic groups, continue to complicate the politics of the conflict” (Corps, 2016). Additionally, the Syrian civil war has taken a significant

The idea of keeping monuments in public spaces is a challenging choice for us all because for those who don’t like the idea of the monuments being removed they can become really violent much so that in the article “Battle Scars”

It is very unsafe to transport very valuable artifacts, and to travel to see them in run down areas. According to Ms. Maniscalco “I don’t think it’s up to me to create tourist itineraries, but I can complain about the closed roads. Why aren’t they fixed? These are political problems” (Donadio). This also supports the point that artifacts should not be returned because the artifacts may get broken and not be worth what they were before they were broken. Another example would be that, “These treasures await those who make the sometimes difficult journey”

of Syria have a lot of struggles in their daily life. Some of the people have no home and they can’t do many things because of the bombings that occur.

Since the start of the Syrian War in 2011, archaeologists have run into roadblocks with tracking specific damages and scope of the damage done to historical sites and artifacts. This destruction takes many forms

Since the beginning of their establishment, ISIS has been known for another calling card; that is destroying antiquities all throughout the many countries and territories they have confiscated over the years. Imagine if you will thousands of years of history destroyed in minutes. Ancient artifacts, statues and even relics that document the history of human civilization have all been wiped out by the terrorist regime. Their reasoning for destroying and vandalizing these high-value and even priceless antiques of time was simplistic. They do it because they believe god said it should be done.

World War ll was the most deadliest war in history that resulted into a massive loss and displacement of cultural treasures. The powerful and infamous dictator Adolf Hitler knew that conquering Europe would require more than war; it would call for a complete domination of the culture, especially its art and architecture. Hitler would not only kill, but he would destroy museums, libraries, and historical buildings. Thankfully a team was created to protect the cultural sites, monuments, and buildings from Allied bombing. This Allie Army team were no soldiers, they were art curators, scholars, architects, librarians, archivists, and professors.

On March 19, 2003 Baghdad was under fire. Three weeks later, American tanks roll into the Iraq capital scenes of triumph replaced by chaos. The US Military wasn’t prepared for citywide civilian crisis and eventually everything went up for grabs—even the treasures of the Iraq museum. The Iraq Museum have object materials from about half a million years ago – carvings, statues, and pottery. All the archaeological data was housed

Among the Ruins: Syria Past and Present by Christian Sahner is a narration of Sahner’s viewpoints of the conflicts that besiege Syria today with their accompanying historical basis. He highlights the effect that this is not just another “Arab Spring” or sectarian brush fire that suddenly appeared but instead is deeply rooted in cultural tensions that have boiled over. Sahner provides examples of sectarianism and its impact upon Syria throughout history but also supports his thesis that the conflict extends beyond sectarianism, which he supports through historical illustrations. Furthermore, his prolific usage of first-person experience and writing breathes life into historical notions. One example is Sahner’s quote of a Syrian

It has been four years and is a lone crisis’ that is most sought to be assisted. Firstly, in order to contribute, there must be awareness and realization of the fact that this issue is not solely affecting Syria and Syrians. People need to care and talk about it. They have to know that this crisis is not independent. Secondly, people need to contribute and support Syrian Refugees: whether a generous donation or a small donation from many, it will impact the lives of several families. These small actions can lead to bringing clean water and food to people, improving shelters, giving families some basic household needs and attempting to provide coping methods for some of the terrors that young children and adults have been faced with. Both knowledge and provision can create global response. This will bring resources to refugees who need it to survive and aid when executing the reconstruction of

The Middle East has faced many controversial topics over the last few decades. A recent problem has been the looting of artifacts and artwork from many different museums and important sites. During and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, people broke into the National Museum of Iraq and stole thousands of artifacts, resulting in damage to not only the museum, but also the lives of Iraqi citizens. The looting in this museum caused it to close for many years, and many of the artifacts were never found. Although the looting of artwork in the Middle East is not a popular topic in the United States, it has been an ongoing controversy over the last decade, causing many problems for the people of Iraq and the culture.

As I started my walk from my dorm to Sarah Moody Gallery on Tuesday afternoon, I started to think about what I was about to see and how it would make me feel. I never expected to get so emotional by looking at a few pieces of art on the walls and sculptures on the ground. Once I arrived at the gallery, I started to examine my surroundings. From the outside, the gallery looked like an old, rustic brick building, much like any other building at the University of Alabama. Ms. Dyer started to tell the class about the authors journey to Syria, and my heart started to weep for the children. She told us that James Neel was supposed to visit a Syrian refugee camp; however, he did not because of his encounter with a few former Syrian fighters that wanted to take him to see the real effects of shrapnel on the children. There, he saw children with severed spines, missing limbs, and extensive burns. Ms. Dyer continued with the story, and she gave the class a few statistics. The most gut wrenching statistic was that every five minutes, a child died. She ended the story, and we were left to make our own opinions.

Once you take away a historical artifact from its original place, it is no longer historical. Though Dr. Hawass states that a nation keeps legal documentation to keep the artifact valuable and keep its culture (A Case In Antiquities for ‘Finders Keepers’), the local people of where that artifact originated should get to view the artifact before anyone else. Those cultural artifacts are a huge part of their identity and