The European Commission has proposed 2018 as the European Year of Cultural Heritage. The final decision now lies with the European Parliament and the Council. Because cultural heritage is so central to Europe’s identity and due to the grave threats it faces in conflict zones, the European Commission considers that the time is right to…
In the National Museum of Damascus are antique books of black magic or witchcraft listing curses and spells designed to dumbfound or destroy whatever enemy is targeted by the user. Alongside these tattered works lie a bible made out of copper, religious works from the Crusader period and, elsewhere in the museum, a striking stone…
The German ‘Gesellschaft für Ur- und Frühgeschichte e. V.’ informs about the destruction of cultural heritage through metal detectoring. read more (in German)
The German ‘Gesellschaft für Ur- und Frühgeschichte e. V.’ informs about how to (or not to) buy antiquities online. read more (in German)
In a world scarred by recurrent violence against people and their heritage, the nine-year prison sentence handed down to Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, who helped to destroy shrines in Timbuktu, marks a new and welcome recognition that deliberate cultural destruction is a war crime. It is the first international trial to focus exclusively on crimes against…
Selling or moving a work out of Germany has just become a lot more difficult. The German parliament, the Bundestag, on Thursday (23.06.2016) passed a new law that will closely regulate the international sale of art and artifacts deemed to be of significant cultural value. As for ancient archeological treasures, a permit will be required…
A controversial new law protecting cultural artifacts was passed in Germany in August. Assyriologist Markus Hilgert tells DW it is a vital update for the preservation of archaeological treasures from the Middle East. read more
Sandra Cobden has been a New York-based litigator for more than twenty years. For the last seven years, she has worked at Christie’s managing their disputes, legislative interests, and governments affairs. She is also an adjunct law professor at Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, where she teaches art law. read the whole interview and then (probably…
AUDITOR-general Odysseas Michaelides will hand over to the attorney-general information collected by his office about irregularities at the Paphos Antiquities Department. Last week, the audit service carried out two surprise inspections in Paphos, following reports about inadequate storage procedures for antiquities found during the course of excavations, as well as possible wrongdoing in relation to…
Security guards called police after they saw the 31-year-old tourist use his foot to dig out a chip of marble from the floor of Pompeii’s House of the Small Fountain dating from the first century AD. In May last year, the United States returned to Italy three frescoes taken from Pompeii nearly 60 years ago…
EAA-Community on the Illicit Trade in Cultural Material 