Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation welcomes the German-Iraqi initiative to save Iraq's cultural heritage and the initiative to amend the law on the protection of cultural property
Press release from 04/22/2015
Yesterday, Tuesday, representatives of Germany and Iraq presented a joint initiative in New York that opposes the destruction of Iraq's cultural heritage. In the next few days, the two countries will submit a draft resolution to the UN.
Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and also President of the German Association for Archaeology, welcomes the joint approach: "We urgently need concrete measures to curb the destruction and looting of archaeological sites and other cultural places. I very much hope that the international community will support the resolution, because we must not leave countries like Iraq alone with these problems. I also welcome the intention to one day hold those responsible for cultural vandalism to account. The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation is already cooperating intensively with the Iraqi cultural authorities. We are supporting very concrete steps to secure and restore museum artefacts and are training Iraqi experts for the reconstruction period. In addition, we must do everything we can to prevent the trade in cultural artefacts from illegal sources. This is not just a problem in Iraq, it is a global problem. Because illicit excavations and illegal trade threaten and destroy the cultural heritage of mankind."
The amendment of the Cultural Protection Act is therefore another important step in this direction. Commenting on today's oral hearing before expert representatives and associations, Hermann Parzinger said: "I very much welcome this initiative by Minister of State for Culture Monika Grütters to make German laws against the trade in stolen cultural property more effective. The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation supports this through scientific and practical measures such as the ILLICID dark field research project, which systematically investigates the routes of illegal trade in cultural property in Germany, among other things."