International conference "Cultural property in danger: looted excavations and illegal trade" begins at the Federal Foreign Office
Press release from 12/10/2014
The international conference "Cultural Property in Danger: Looted Excavations and Illegal Trade" begins this Thursday at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. The two-day meeting of experts from Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria, Mozambique, Mexico, Greece and Germany is being organised by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, the German Archaeological Institute and the German Association for Archaeology with the support of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the Federal Foreign Office.
The conference aims to highlight the threatening situation in various regions and outline ways towards more effective cultural property protection. The background to this is the forthcoming amendment of the Cultural Property Protection Act in Germany. According to the President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Hermann Parzinger, looted excavations are a worldwide problem. This destroys archaeological sites, tears apart historical contexts and destroys the cultural heritage of mankind. Because countries that are considered the cradle of civilisation are currently particularly affected by crises, their cultural heritage is being irretrievably lost.
The President of the German Archaeological Institute, Friederike Fless, called for a "new awareness-raising" for the acquisition of archaeological cultural assets and appealed to the countries of origin to introduce a so-called "object ID" in order to be able to better prove the origin of archaeological objects.
Note for accredited journalists: Access to the conference is from 10.30 a.m. via the entrance at Unterwasserstraße 10. Editorial offices that have arranged interview appointments should report to the press counter at the entrance. You can reach the press office of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in the coming days on 0151 52751594.
Further information
- Event information with conference programme
- Press photos