Switching on the chronometer of history : communism, postcommunism and heritage

The destruction of monuments accompanying the fall of Communism ignited debates about preservation of manifestations of a hated regime. While heritage professionals called for their preservation as ‘historical documents’, many monuments were destroyed or removed. Yampolsky sees anti-Communist iconoclasm as a rejection of the totalitarianism of time embodied in Communist monuments. These ‘intentional monuments’ were intended to ‘negate the march of time and oppose to it the permanence of human action’. They demonstrated the alleged end of history in a classless utopia.

Iconoclastic acts against these monuments involved the crossing of ‘the invisible boundaries of the sacral zone surrounding monuments, switching on the chronometer of history’. In doing so, iconoclasts provide the conditions for reassertion of heritage practices: heritage requires a sense of the flow of time, a difference between past, present and future.

Having restarted the chronometer of history, a society is forced to assess where it stands in relation to its past. Will it continue on a path of ‘wilful forgetting’, or seek to confront the past? The danger of wilful forgetting is the creation of nostalgia. Alternatively, preservation of places of memory helps processing of the past required for movement into the future. ‘One need only consider the way in which Berliners tore down the hated Berlin Wall in the aftermath of 1989’, Fulbrook writes, ‘to understand the desire to rid the landscape of a hated excrescence, a symbol of a rejected political past. But…for those who come after, the effort of historical imagination is all the greater for lack of a topography of experience’.

Heritage preservation can produce a ‘topography of experience’, through which the experience of Communism is examined. Reassertion of a humanistic historical time through heritage practices reveals the arrogant futility of utopian projects seeking to bring history to an end.

Whose identity? Valuing the culture built heritage in diverse and tensioned societies

The UNESCO declaration on cultural diversity in 2002 has raised more questions than answers. More recent events around the World have highlighted the immediate need for legislative actions to protect cultural built heritage in tensioned societies. This paper discusses the potential global risks that face cultural built Heritage. The paper argues that such risks are not only limited to regions where military operations are taking place but also to nations where questions of identity and cultural diversity are raised. The paper questioned the reasons and the impact of the rise of ethno nationalism on the protection of cultural built heritage. The different discourses of these groups that will lead to destruction of cultural artefacts are also explored. In order to properly legislate means for the protection of vulnerable cultural built heritage in conflict areas, the underline value system should be clarified and the values under threat identified. The paper concludes with a plea to move our understanding and definition of culture from the previous 'old' definition with relation to "people' to a 'new' one which is more relevant to context.

Dresden as Opferstadt? : the politics of commemorating destruction, 1985-2005

Using public remembrance of the controversial WWII firebombing of Dresden as its case study, the thesis probes the politics of war memory and commemoration. It argues that before, during, and after Germany's reunification, Dresden was portrayed as a, if not the, leading paradigm of German wartime loss and suffering.

Cultural destruction and identity politics : targeting the history of Iraq

Since its inception in 1921, a number of successive regimes have sought to politicize Iraq‟s cultural history in order to develop national identity and foster social cohesion across this rich and complex nation. Foremost among these were the Baath party, particularly under the rule of Saddam Hussein, who used much of the nation‟s Oil wealth to undergo an extensive nation-building campaign. However, identity in Iraq is far from monolithic and various factions have long resisted the state sanctioned version of “Iraqi” identity and asserted alternative histories and narratives to underpin their own identity politics. With the invasion of Iraq by Coalition forces in 2003, however, came an unprecedented era of cultural destruction. Following the devastation of the battle phase of the war, there were further attacks on Iraq‟s cultural heritage including everything from the carefully choreographed removal of the giant bronze statue of Saddam in Firdos square, through to military bases set up at sensitive archaeological sites such as the ancient city of Babylon. In addition, Iraqi civilians targeted the cultural history of their nation with wanton looting and arson, as well as systematic attacks on sites of archaeological or ethno-religious significance. More recently, the Shia and Kurdish dominated Iraqi Government have organised the “Committee for Removing Symbols of the Saddam Era” and drew up plans to purge the state of its Sunni dominated past.

This paper argues that the unprecedented scale and magnitude of the destruction of Iraq‟s cultural history has played a part in eroding the various intersecting and overlapping versions of identity politics in Iraq. In turn, this has provided fertile ground for terrorists and sectarians to plant the seeds of their own narrow and deadly ideologies. This has brought about the rise of ethno-religious based violence and seen a series of bloody and protracted conflicts emerge between previously peaceful and compatible factions. In this way, Iraq serves as a powerful case study in furthering academic discussion on the complex inter-relationships between cultural and historical destruction and identity politics, sectarianism, violence and democracy.

Heritage under fire: lessons from Iraq for cultural property protection

This chapter begins with a discussion of the impact of the Iraq War and subsequent occupation (2003-–2011) on Iraq’s heritage, documenting the most significant and devastating instances of heritage damage and destruction that occurred. Moving forward, this chapter continues with a discussion of the grave challenges facing Iraqi heritage beyond the withdrawal of US military forces in the forms of development, neglect, continued hostilities, and inexpert and haphazard excavation, preservation, protection, and restoration. Despite this troubling scenario, this chapter also examines the extent to which the Iraq conflict was a turning point for major Western military operations and the development of CPP programs which aim to better prepare military personnel for protecting cultural property in future conflicts.

Asian Cities: Cultural heritage and the interplay between nation building and internationalism

It is over a decade since the volume The Disappearing Asian City (Logan 2002) was published. An edited volume bringing together a number of experts on the region, the book identified the threats facing buildings, archaeological sites and the historic character of cities, as well as the myriad of challenges of raising civic and regulatory awareness about the value of cultural heritage in times of rapid transformation. It was a set of concerns and arguments that remain as pertinent as ever. Those who have lived and worked in different parts of Asia over the past decade on cultural heritage issues, frequently use the terms 'extraordinary' or 'bewildering' to describe the scale and speed of transformation that has taken place. Indeed, for those concerned about maintaining continuities between past and present - whether they be social, spiritual or material - the development of cities, the wholesale movements of communities in and out of urban landscapes, together with the dramatic increase in industries like tourism, has often been disorienting, and in some cases deeply confronting: both professionally and emotionally. And yet, to focus on loss and destruction would miss a whole set of other fascinating, emergent and important trends. As numerous publications in the intervening period have shown, cultural heritage has become a topic of intense interest and debate in the majority of Asian societies, for a host of reasons (Askew 2010; Broudehoux 2004; Pai 2013).

Streetwise Asia, a practical guide for the conservation and revitalisation of heritage cities and towns in Asia.

This is a practical and accessible guide for residents and professionals concerned to preserve and revitalise heritage cities in Asia. Heritage cities (many listed by UNESCO) are of course of major interest to one of the world's largest industries, tourism. Using inset colour photographs to complement the text, the realities of destructive and constructive development, repairs, restoration and usage are made clear. Legal, financial, administrative, historical and educational aspects of conservation policies, incentives and implementations are discussed. With outlines for strategy, goals and bibliography.