UNESCO warns IS militant group is destroying and looting Iraqi heritage sites
UNESCO is warning that members of the group calling itself Islamic State in Iraq are destroying and looting ancient heritage sites to sell valued artefacts on the black market. The extremist group has destroyed shrines, churches and precious manuscripts in Mosul, Tikrit and other areas of Iraq and excavated sites to sell objects abroad. UNESCO chief…
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A different reality of Baghdad
Caecilia Pieri visited Baghdad for the first time in 2003, accompanying a friend who was preparing for an exhibition of Iraqi artists in Paris. The trip, as it turned out, was to change her life in a way she never imagined. Moving through the city with her friend, Pieri discovered an aspect of Baghdad — its architecture — that had for all practical …
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Building Sparks Preservation Movement
In Upstate New York, residents are clamoring to raze down their Government Center, Paul Rudolph’s classic 1970 example of brutalist design. Ostensibly, this is due to flood-damage. But it can’t hurt that, as one resident was quoted in The New York Times as saying, it’s “a big ugly building.” In Minnesota, city officials would rather tear down M. Pau…
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