EurasiaNet.org NY (30 January 2009)
The National Museum in Kabul, Afghanistan has been newly rebuilt and is working both to restore damaged artifacts and review its inventory. The museum has lost over 70 percent of its holdings due to a succession of wars over the last quarter century, which resulted in the museum being looted, set on fire, and rendered inaccessible to staff periodically, as well as some of its collection specifically targeted for destruction. The Director of the National Museum, Omara Khan Masoudi, UNESCO, and the International Council of Museums is working to reverse this process, and at present is trying to identify looted pieces and encourage their return. Masoudi and others are creating a ‘red list’ of the museum’s former antiquties that will be illegal to own or trade. The museum is also in need of a security system, climate control, and proper illumination to better protect and conserve its collection. While Masoudi laments that there are not more museums available to citizens in Afghanistan’s provinces, he does hope the museum will educate Afghans about their multicultural heritage and that such education and appreciation, especially among the country’s youth, will protect the collection from future looting and destruction.
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insightb/articles/eav013009g.shtml
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The Art Newspaper, 28 January 2009.
Gaza’s only museum, the Antiquities Museum of Gaza, was damaged during the 22 days of recent Israeli strikes. In addition, archaeologists are concerned for the area’s many historic and archaeological sites because of the high concentration of such sites throughout the war-damaged region. The long history of armed conflict in the region has made continuous archaeological excavation nearly impossible, with the result that many sites have been left unexcavated and unprotected.
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/article.asp?id=16827
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AP, 27 January 2009.
Following discussions between Greek and Iraqi officials, the Greek foreign minister, Dora Bakoyannis, announced that Greece has pledged financial and technical assistance to Iraq as it attempts to protect its archaeological sites and repair its museums. Also, as part of a cultural exchange, a monument to Alexander the Great will be placed at the site of Alexander’s defeat of the Persian emperor Darius III in 331 bce, now in northern Iraq. A team made of up Iraqi and Greek experts will meet to discuss the details of the offered assistance.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ifWe4BEN1ZF4O5nZmhwwEb4dOI1wD95VG5E00
http://www.reuters.com/article/artsNews/idUSTRE50Q5GA20090127
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Focus in the trial of Marion True in Rome shifted to Robert Hecht, the antiquities dealer accused of conspiring to traffic in antiquities with Ms. True. Objects dealt with by Mr. Hecht ended up in the collections of museum such as the J. Paul Getty Museum, where Ms. True was a curator, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Many of the items in question have been returned to Rome and are displayed in an exhibition, “Nostoi: Capolavori Ritrovati,” in the Palazzo del Quirinale. Reported in the New York Times on 23 January.
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On 21 January, BBC reported that the Egyptian Council of Antiquities has contacted the Ostergotlands County Museum in Sweden about the return of about 200 objects collected by the Swede Otto Smith in the 1920s from locations such as Saqqara and Luxor. The Egyptian chief archaeologist, Zahi Hawass, has stated that the items were illegally removed from their locations in Egypt, that they were neglected and even damaged by the museum, and that Otto Smith’s family now considers the museum to have been in breach of contract.
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