Specialists of Cultural Heritage and Its Protection Will Discuss Massive Destruction of Sites in the World
In September, 2015, the methodical destruction of the thousand-year-old ancient city of Palmyra in Syria was undertaken by ISIS.All that remains there today are a few anonymous stones on a sand field. Can we prevent wars from destroying our shared heritage of humanity? Can cultural heritage be protected by law? Are international organizations like UNESCO trying hard enough? Is technology part of the solution?
A panel of experts addressed these questions at the Cultural Center of the Lycée Français de New York on December 5, 2016.
With Hugh Eakin, Senior Editor at New York Review of Books with extensive reporting on this issue, Philippe de Montebello, LFNY alumnus and professor of Art History at NYU’s Institute of History of Fine Arts and former director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Edouard Planche, a legal expert in the protection of cultural heritage at UNESCO, Salam Al Kuntar, a research fellow at the Penn Museum of the University of Pennsylvania and co-director of the Safeguarding the Heritage of Syria and Iraq Project and Navina Najat Haydar, curator in The Met’s department of Islamic Art since 1999.
About the panel series
The 21st Century Citizenship Series are panel discussions on the major issues facing our world. Organized in the evening and in English, these panels are free and open to all.
For more information about the upcoming panels, please visit the Lycée Français de New York site.
About the Author :
[1]Pascale Richard joined the Lycée as director of the Cultural Center in 2011, where she aims to bring the best of French and American cultures through conferences, concerts, films and various events. In the fall of 2012, she launched the school’s Artist-in-Residence program. Pascale was previously Vice President of External Affairs at the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF). Her background is in journalism and writing with a focus on lifestyle and fashion. She is a graduate of Sciences-po and holds a master’s in journalism from New York University.