(Photo taken in Syria by Amr al-Azm)
Cultural property, art, and antiquities are often destroyed or looted in armed conflicts. How does the international community respond when cultural heritage objects — from paintings looted in Europe during World War II to Assyrian monuments destroyed by ISIS in the Middle East — are swept up in war?
Preserving Cultural Heritage in Times of Conflict, a three-day conference October 18–20, 2017, explored this question. The conference brought together a group of interdisciplinary scholars and art crime experts, including keynote speaker and author of The Monuments Men, Robert Edsel, for a series of presentations, lectures, and discussions.