Database, capacity building, dark field research: how the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation supports the protection of cultural property in Syria
Press release from 06/01/2016
On the occasion of the International Meeting of Experts on the Preservation of Cultural Heritage in Syria, which is taking place from 2 to 4 June 2016 at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, says: "If one day the guns fall silent, it will have to be the Syrians themselves who decide how their country should proceed. The current meeting of experts in Berlin is therefore the only right way to discuss ways to save their cultural heritage and rebuild the World Heritage sites together with the Syrians at an expert level. The international community must get involved, not least because Syria's cultural heritage harbours a reconciliatory power that can help the battered country get back on its feet."
About the individual projects
Syrian Heritage Archive Project (SHAP) with Damage Assessment Database
Since 2013, the Syrian Heritage Archive Project (SHAP) has been set up by the Museum of Islamic Art of the National Museums in Berlin and the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) with extensive funding from the Federal Foreign Office. With over 100,000 digitised photos, plans and maps, extensive information from the archives of both institutions is now available. At the Museum of Islamic Art, the database system has been expanded to include a damage assessment component that combines historical data with information on current destruction (images, sound and film). This makes it possible to record and assess the damage to Syria's architectural and archaeological cultural heritage in detail. The database is to be expanded into a multilingual platform and extended to include a mobile application for on-site recording of various types of information, including 3D scans. In order to record the damage, cooperation in Syria must also be expanded, for example with the Syrian Antiquities Authority DGAM and UNESCO, but also with NGOs and other organisations. The combination of data from SHAP and the damage assessment can be used for reconstruction planning.
Storage materials for cuneiform tablets in Damascus
The Museum of the Ancient Near East is providing the National Museum in Damascus with museum-quality storage materials for cuneiform clay tablets. The measure was requested by the Syrian Directorate General for Antiquities and Museums (DGAM). It is urgently needed because thousands of artefacts have been transferred from provincial museums to the Damascus National Museum since 2012 in order to protect them from looting. These include over 40,000 clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform writing. Without proper storage, these early artefacts of human history would be exposed to rapid deterioration due to the climatic conditions and their precarious state of preservation. After several weeks of joint planning by the ceramics conservator at the Museum of the Ancient Near East, one of the world's most renowned specialists in the conservation of cuneiform tablets, and the conservator responsible at the DGAM, the appropriate storage materials are now being purchased and transported to Damascus. In addition to the direct protection of the cuneiform tablets, the project also serves to promote sustainable capacity building in the field of museum storage of cultural artefacts in Syria. The project is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.
ILLICID
The multidisciplinary research project ILLICID is dedicated to the illegal trade in cultural artefacts, a global phenomenon that leads to the gradual eradication of archaeological heritage through the looting of ancient sites. There are currently no reliable figures on the extent of the illegal trade in cultural artefacts in Germany. As part of ILLICID, this dark field is being analysed for the first time in order to develop effective strategies to combat crime. In addition, a practical guide for those involved in the trade in cultural goods is to be compiled and a database for the systematic documentation of legally and illegally traded cultural property is to be set up. The coordinator of the project is the Director of the Museum of the Ancient Near East, Prof Markus Hilgert. The project is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research with 1.2 million euros.
ZEDIKUM
One of the tasks of museums relevant to the protection of cultural assets is to promote the development of new technologies and infrastructures. In August 2015, the "Centre for Digital Cultural Assets in Museums" (ZEDIKUM) was established at the Vorderasiatisches Museum of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, supported by the five archaeological museums (Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection, Collection of Classical Antiquities, Museum of Islamic Art, Museum of Prehistory and Early History, Museum of the Ancient Near East). The central tasks of ZEDIKUM are the generation, sustainable provision and variable use of 3D digital copies of archaeological cultural assets. The research results can benefit cultural heritage protection worldwide: In 3D, objects such as scroll seals or cuneiform tablets are much easier to read, while at the same time the materiality can be precisely determined. Originals and forgeries can be precisely distinguished. This is important, for example, when dealing with artefacts that could originate from looted excavations or illegal trade. In view of the massive threat to archaeological cultural assets worldwide, ZEDIKUM also wants to contribute to the development of mobile, cost-effective 3D scanning methods for use in crisis situations.
Further training programmes for museum experts
With funding from the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, two employees of the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM) were able to complete a four-week intensive course in a laboratory at the Museum of the Ancient Near East in November 2015. The course centred on learning how to conserve cuneiform tablets. The experiences of this intensive course formed the basis for the jointly conceived emergency measure, as part of which storage materials for cuneiform tablets were transported to Damascus.
MULTAKA: Meeting point museum
As part of this mediation project initiated by the Museum of Islamic Art, 19 Syrian and Iraqi refugees were trained as guides who talk to other refugees in their own language about the artefacts of their own culture on display in the museums, but also about significant moments in German history. They are now mediators for their own cultural heritage and have already sensitised several thousand people to the shared cultural heritage.