How heritage gets damaged in wars

According to the UN’s cultural agency, UNESCO has defined cultural heritage as artefacts, buildings, monuments, and sites, along with museums that provide a diversity of cultural benefits. These are marked with historical, symbolic, artistic, aesthetic, ethnological, anthropological, scientific, and social significance. It mentions that cultural heritage can be both tangible and intangible. Wars have been a part of our history since the oldest of times, and they perpetuate the notion of objectifying cultural heritage to demoralize victim communities. Invasion and encroachment in the very first move target tangible heritage as a purposeful insult. Heritage also holds high commercial value in international markets; attempts to bring it down crumble the economy of the victim side.

Methods of destruction of cultural targets

Armed conflicts make heritage susceptible to both ‘direct and indirect forms of damage.’ Direct damage points toward deliberate actions of destruction. It refers to the directly quantifiable losses, such as the count of people killed and the damage to structures, infrastructure, and natural resources; they intend to erase the identity of the place. Heritage loss is direct damage, and it alters the psychology of people who associate with the site. Indirect disaster losses, on the other hand, include declines in output or revenue and an impact on the well-being of people. It generally arises from blockages to the flow of goods and services as a conclusion of a conflicting disaster.

Conflicts are the root cause of damage to heritage. The looting of artefacts and the purposeful destruction of historic architecture primarily give direction to wars. Some significant examples of heritage damage include Hitler’s Nazi regime during World War II, when Europe underwent tremendous damage to cultural heritage due to the destruction of libraries and museums. The semi-independent protectorate of the Roman Empire, which later became a colony, the city of Palmyra, in Syria, was one of the most ancient cities destructed by a terrorist group. The group was also responsible for burning down Mosul’s university library and blowing up the central public library, along with stealing manuscripts and books that were centuries old.

Formation of UNESCO post world wars

Before World War I and II, damage to heritage was seen as a collateral output of conflicts. During the 1945 conference, 44 participating countries decided to build an organization to promote a culture of peace, establish an “intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind,” and prevent another world war. It came into effect on November 4, 1946. The excruciating damage done to historic churches, museums, and cities led to international discussions for the conservation of cultural heritage during world wars, thus institutionalizing the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1945. It introduced conventions and protocols. The Hague Convention of 1954 provided a legal framework to safeguard cultural heritage and property during armed conflicts.

UNESCO heritage sites damaged in armed conflicts

1. Palmyra, Syria

Palmyra holds the archaeological ruins of a remarkable city. It was one of the most noteworthy cultural centres in the context of the ancient world and is described by UNESCO as an ‘oasis in the Syrian desert.’ The art and architecture of Palmyra stand at the junctions of various civilizations from the 1st to the 2nd century. It displays an amalgamation of Graeco-Roman techniques with the local traditions and Persian influences. The critical heritage sites such as the Monumental Arch, Tower of Elahbel, and the Temple of Baalshamin had many of their parts destroyed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the 2015 civil war.

2. Beijing’s Old Summer Palace, China

The British and French military forces tore down the glorious residential complex of the Qing Dynasty during the Second Opium War in 1860. The compound, nestled with majestic temples and pavilions surrounded by alluring gardens, was built between the 18th and early 19th centuries.

3. The Buddhas of Bamiyan, Afghanistan

Towering at 55 meters, before being destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, the Buddhas of Bamiyan were the most colossal standing statues in the world. They were the primary evidence of the Gandharan school of Buddhist art in Central Asia. Before being brought down to the ground with artillery shells, tanks, and dynamite by the Taliban, under the direction of Mullah Mohammed Omar, the statues stood as a key stop on the iconic Silk Road since the 6th century.

4. St. Michael’s Old Cathedral, United Kingdom

The exquisite and grand Gothic church in Coventry, United Kingdom, was built between the late 14th and early 15th century. Initially constructed as a chapel, the Earl of Chester’s castle in the twelfth century, it was expanded in the late fourteenth century. It became the largest parish church in England and earned the status of a cathedral in 1918. It was brought down by the Germans during the Second World War, leaving the spire, tower, and only outer walls intact. A new cathedral was built again in 1962 beside the ruins of the old cathedral that represents Coventry’s medieval and modern history.

Heritage destruction and deaths of cultural identities

Cultural heritage is a strategic target in war and conflict despite legal protections. These attacks intend to impact self-identity, strip the will to fight, and punish the nemesis. They induce iconoclasm that removes the symbols of legitimacy and authority for religious or political reasons to generate publicity in the guise of accelerating outrage, support, or other responses and opportunistic looting with organized tactics. Heritage sites also face collateral, neglectful, and unintentional damage caused by armed forces. History will never be efficient in teaching warmongers a lesson; the ongoing painful wars between Russia and Ukraine, along with Israel’s settler colony and Palestine, are living examples of it. In the end, it is the people who die, the heritage that wilts, and identities that vanish.

References

1. Online sources

Citations for websites:

1. Winchester, N. (2022). Targeting culture: the Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Conflict. [online] lordslibrary.parliament.uk. Available at: https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/targeting-culture-the-destruction-of-cultural-heritage-in-conflict/ [Accessed 27 Oct. 2023].
2. Clack, T. (2022). Cultural Heritage on the Frontline: the Destruction of Peoples and Identities in War | University of Oxford. [online] www.ox.ac.uk. Available at: https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2022-10-04-cultural-heritage-frontline-destruction-peoples-and-identities-war [Accessed 27 Oct. 2023].
3. PARIKH, M. (2022). 9 Cultural Sites around the World That Were Destroyed by War or Terrorist Attacks. [online] Lifestyle Asia India. Available at: https://www.lifestyleasia.com/ind/travel/cultural-sites-destroyed-by-war/ [Accessed 27 Oct. 2023].
4. www.preventionweb.net. (n.d.). Direct & Indirect Losses. [online] Available at: https://www.preventionweb.net/understanding-disaster-risk/key-concepts/direct-indirect-losses.
5. https://www.facebook.com/thoughtcodotcom (2009). What Are the Goals of UNESCO? [online] ThoughtCo. Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/unesco-history-and-overview-1435440 [Accessed 28 Oct. 2023].
6. Terpak, Frances, Frances and Louis, P. (n.d.). The Legacy of Ancient Palmyra (Getty Research Institute). [online] www.getty.edu. Available at: https://www.getty.edu/research/exhibitions_events/exhibitions/palmyra/ancient_palmyra.html#:~:text=Throughout%20much%20of%20its%20ancient [Accessed 28 Oct. 2023].
7. Images/visual mediums

Citations for images/photographs – Print or Online:

1. Ivankovic, I. (2014). Ul. Kralja Petra Krešimira IV. 51, 20000, Dubrovnik, Croatia. [Photograph] Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/white-and-red-concrete-houses-beside-sea-M0uDTaOUZmw [Accessed 28 Oct. 2023].
2. Francis, E. and Han, J. (2023). In photos: Centuries-old Kyiv Cathedral and Monastery on U.N. Danger List. [Photograph] Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/09/16/unesco-world-heritage-ukraine-kyiv-lviv-photos/ [Accessed 28 Oct. 2023].
3. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Brittanica (2023). Septimius Odaenathus | Prince of Palmyra. [Photograph] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Septimius-Odaenathus [Accessed 28 Oct. 2023].
4. Kevin | (2015). Beijing’s Old Summer Palace – a Hidden Treasure. [Photograph] Adventure Patches. Available at: https://adventurepatches.com/2015/12/10/beijings-old-summer-palace-a-hidden-treasure/ [Accessed 29 Oct. 2023].
5. Taylor, A. (2015). What Mohammad Omar Took from Afghanistan That Can Never Be Returned. Washington Post. [Photograph] 30 Jul. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/07/30/what-mullah-omar-took-from-afghanistan-that-can-never-be-returned/ [Accessed 28 Oct. 2023].
6. Walker, A. (2006). File:Coventry Cathedral Ruins with Rainbow edit.jpg – Wikipedia. [Photograph] commons.wikimedia.org. Available at: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Coventry_Cathedral_Ruins_with_Rainbow_edit.jpg [Accessed 28 Oct. 2023].