In August 2016 the registration process of preserved artifacts of National museum of Afghanistan in the central bank vaults of Presidential palace started.

According to the news, a Team of professional members of National Museum with the cooperation of Oriental Institute of Chicago University has been appointed to register and repack some of the artifacts of National museum, which are preserved in the central bank vaults of presidential palace.

According to the Acting Director of National museum of Afghanistan Muhammad Fahim Rahimi, the main purpose of this registration is to document artifacts of national museum of Afghanistan based on recognized professional standards and better preservation of these artifacts as they will be conserved and repacked with accepted packing materials and processes to ensure long term preservation.

If you have ever visited Venice, Italy, you have come back home with stunning images and memories of that beautiful city. Most people simply fall in love with that beautiful city. However, it has been the impact of tourism and drastic increase in the number of people visiting the city which has worried the heritage officials and the UNESCO.

In a very interesting recent New York Times article by Salvatore Settis who is the chairman of the Louvre Museum’s scientific advisory council and the author of the forthcoming book “If Venice Dies”, Mr. Settis talks about the threat of tourism “decimating the historic city and turning the Queen of the Adriatic into a Disneyfied shopping mall”.

According to Mr. Settis, the millions of tourists pouring into Venice’s streets and canals are profoundly altering the population and the economy. Tourism is tearing apart Venice’s social fabric, cohesion and civic culture, and is growing ever more predatory according to the article.

It is not surprising that Venice and many other tourists’ sites are reporting higher number of visitors. This in part is due to the fact that the international travelers are avoiding destinations like Turkey, North Africa and some parts of Asia, because of fears of terrorism and unrest.

It has been widely reported that the population of the city has dramatically changed as many native citizens are banished from the island city and those who remain have no choice but to serve in hotels, restaurants and shops selling glass souvenirs and carnival masks. In fact, according to the article, there is an increasing imbalance between the number of the city’s inhabitants (which plummeted from 174,808 in 1951 to 56,311 in 2014, the most recent year for which numbers are available) and the tourists. In addition, proposed large-scale development, including new deepwater navigation channels and a subway running under the lagoon, could further increase erosion and create more strain on the fragile ecological-urban system that surrounds Venice.

According to Mr. Settis, the city is now facing shortage of hotel rooms and overnight accommodations. The damage to the life and structure of the city could be seen in the closure of state institutions, judicial offices, banks, the German Consulate, medical practices which have happened in the last 15 years.

All of this is what has made UNESCO worried and why Venice has now been placed on its World Heritage in Danger list requiring Italian government to establish measures in order to halt the degradation of the city and its ecosystem.

In its July report, Unesco’s committee on heritage sites expressed “extreme concern” about “the combination of ongoing transformations and proposed projects threatening irreversible changes to the overall relationship between the City and its Lagoon,” which would, in its thinking, erode the integrity of Venice, as reported by the New York Times.

And of course, for all of us who are proclaimed Venice lovers, we continue to advocate measures for preservation and conservation of this beautiful city so that tourists and visitors could enjoy it for centuries to come.

To read Mr. Settis’ full article, visit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/30/opinion/can-we-save-venice-before-its-too-late.html?_r=0

A 6.8-magnitude earthquake last week in Myanmar Killed 3 people and damaged over 170 Temples. One of the major sites of destruction was the historic city of Bagan as reported by a number of news outlets. The epicenter was however almost 400 miles north of Yangon according to the United States Geological Survey. Yangon is the country’s largest city.

Bagan is at the heart of Central Myanmar’s growing tourism industry, which has been growing rapidly since 2011. Bangan’s rich history goes back to between the 11th and 13th centuries, when the city was the capital and over 2,000 structures demonstrate the rich history of the city.

Earthquakes have also been part of the history of Bagan. Bagan has survived a number of earthquake just this past century, like one in 1975, which was just as powerful as last week’s earthquake. In that that earthquake a number of structures including the Sulamani Temple were damaged. The Sulamani Temple was rebuilt in the 1990s, along with many other structures.

According to the New York Times, last month, Myanmar’s tourism officials had announced plans to welcome more than five million tourists this year.

While loss of life and helping survivors are of utmost importance after earthquakes, the officials are beginning to assess the damage to the country’s heritage sites in Bagan and surrounding cities.

The most important thing to remember after an earthquake is saving lives and helping the survivors. At the same time, experts are now evaluating the damage to some of Italy’s heritage sites. World heritage experts now fear that many historic buildings and their contents were damaged in the earthquake that hit Italy very early this morning. The earthquake happened across a region where almost every hilltop town and village has beautiful churches and monuments.

As reported, there has been major damage to many churches, monuments and museums. Some of the greatest destruction was in Amatrice, which was voted one of Italy’s most beautiful towns last year and is celebrated for its Cento Chiese, 100 churches filled with frescoes, mosaics and sculptures. Half the facade of the 15th-century church of Sant’Agostino has also collapsed as reported by the several news outlets. The courtyard of one of the town’s Renaissance palaces has been turned into a temporary morgue.

Many historic buildings are also feared lost or damaged in Norcia, the birthplace of St Benedict as reported by the Guardian newspaper earlier today. The 12th-century basilica, which is said to have been built on the foundations of his house, had been damaged too.

Other historic buildings feared at risk include a museum housed in a medieval fort, and 14th-century frescoes in the church of St Augustine as well as the Roman walls, survivors of many earthquakes, which still partly encircle the town.

Cracks were reported in buildings as far from the epicentre as Rome, including in the spectacular baths of Caracalla. And there have been reports of over 120 people have lost their lives. It is most important to make sure that all survivors are rescued and are given shelter and food.

According to a report by Tariana Society, a non-profit in Iran’s Khuzestan province, the ancient temple of Chogha-Zanbil is turned into a grazing land for sheep, cows and stranded dogs. They wander around this site all through the day and the land is covered by their excrements.

The relevant authorities in Cultural Heritage Organization respond to the protests of tourists and friends of cultural sites by denying the facts. Alireza arzaghi, the director of the site, has explained the situation in this way: “The fact is that the farmers are burning their lands and the animals are driven out. Nevertheless, we already have cleaned the site”. But the pictures rendered by the Tariana Society clearly show that this is not a recent incident and the situation has been the same all through the year. The director of this society says: “This one-thousand-acre site has only three guardsmen who work in shifts and they are unable to secure the site. They have not received their wages for months and have no incentive to do their job.

The temple of Chogha-Zanbil is one of the most beautiful sites with 3000 years of history. It belonged to Elamids and has been recognized as a cultural heritage for humanity by UNESCO in 1979.

This week, Ehsan Aghaei, the ex-manager of the Tehran Contemporary Art Museum, has told news reporters that the museum houses 1500 non-Iranian works of art out of which only 10 works are outstanding and unique.

In the era before the Islamic Revolution, the museum held a treasure trove of modern art works. Experts estimate that there were more than 4000 works out of which 400 were considered exceptional.

The museum was set up under the auspices of the ex-queen Farah of Iran and was inspired by old Iranian architecture. Unfortunately, and just like other similar instances, the museum was afflicted by negligence, lack of maintenance, and the plunder of works of art, a process that has recently been reflected in the news. Thus, what the ex-manager of the museum has announced is sadly a fact.