Armed attack at popular world heritage site in Russia's North Caucasus

Details are emerging of an armed attack at the Fortress of Derbent, part of a world heritage site complex located in Dagestan, near the Caspian Sea. The Fortress, dating from the 5th century CE, guarded the northern frontier of the Sasanian Persian Empire. Today, the North Caucasus region is known for its political instability and Islamist-linked violence.

The attack on December 30, 2015, which left one person dead and ten (or eleven) injured, including two border guards, was reportedly carried out by local Islamist militants with links to the so-called Islamic State.

While Derbent with tourists, this incident will likely dent the number of visitors to the site, in a pattern which has become all too familiar of late in countries in the region affected by Islamist violence.

Jordan's tourism industry suffers as conflict in the Middle East trundles on

Being situated in a region of political instability and religious strife has cost Jordan dearly over the years - whether in relation to its misjudged support for Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 or its difficult balancing act in maintaining relations with both Israel and the Palestinians - and as such it is sad to see once again the ill-effects of geography on this most welcoming of countries.

As Deutsche Presse-Agentur is reporting this week, Jordan's tourism industry is in crisis, with the number of visitors this year at just 30 percent of where visitor numbers stood in 2010. The cause of the downturn is clear enough: violence in neighbouring countries dissuades potential tourists from coming, despite the fact that Jordan is much safer than many other popular tourist destination, whether in Western Europe, the Americas or Asia.

However, the tourism industry is a major source of revenue for Jordan, and all those who depending on tourism - either directly or indirectly - are suffering at a time when the country is already bearing more than its share of the burden in housing refugees from Syria and Iraq.

Let's hope that 2016 brings more positive news, both for Jordan and the wider Middle East.

Newly restored buildings opened to the public at Pompei

As reported previously on this blog, the famed Roman archaeological site at Pompei has been focus of a major restoration project over the past three years which has not exactly proceeded according to plan.

However, Italian authorities had something celebrate this week with the unveiling of six newly restored buildings at Pompei. The buildings, which include bathhouses and intricate mosaics, were opened to the public on Christmas Eve. A slideshow featuring photos of one of the buildings, the luxurious Fullonica Stephanus Domus, have been posted here by CNN.

Already one of the most visited tourist attractions in Italy, Pompei is likely to attract even more visitors in the coming months thanks to the tangible results being achieved through the restoration process.

Al-Salt: Strong contender for world heritage status

As visitors who have spent any length of time in Jordan can attest, while the country punches above its weight in terms of its cultural and historical heritage and the beauty of its natural environment, recent urban development has tended to favour function over form. That is to say, cement blocks and and other utilitarian building materials predominate while streets often are dusty and traffic-clogged. 

View of old city from municipal museum balcony

Thus, it came as a very pleasant surpise on my visit to Jordan last year to arrive in al-Salt, a small city of about 100,000 inhabitants 35km North-West of Amman. Although the locale has been inhabited since ancient times, al-Salt’s heyday came in the 19th century, when traders from Nablus settled in the area and established an architectural legacy of distinctive stone building, many of which survive lto this day. As a result, walking in the centre of al-Salt is like stepping back in time, and the feeling is only strengthened the bustling street life with local people going about their business with not a single souvenir hawker or hustler in sight. 

Market street in the old city

All in all my stay in al-Salt was a highlight of my trip to Jordan, and as such I welcome the municipal authorities’ tenacity in making a third attempt to have their city inscribed as a world heritage site. While the previous attempts, undertaken in 1994 and 2004 respectively, reportedly suffered from their dependence on local experts, the city has now engaged an international consultant with experience working UNESCO to help develop the current bid. With a little over a month to the application deadline, I certainly hope that al-Salt proves to be third time lucky.

19th century home in al-Salt

Ambitious restoration project at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity

Bethlehem’s Church of Nativity, a world heritage site located at the site traditionally associated with the birthplace of Jesus Christ, was first completed in the 4th century CE. While the church was rebuilt two centuries later following a fire, the elaborate mosaic floors from the original church were retained.

Having into the 21st century having survived earthquakes, sieges and (perhaps most destructively) leaking roofs, the Palestinian Authority launched a major renovation project in 2013 costing  approximately USD25 million. While the renovation work was still very much in evidence at the time of my visit to the church last year, impressive results are beginning to emerge, as reported by the Financial Times this week. In particular, tweltfh century mosaics have been restored to their former glory, giving visitors a chance to see them as they would have been seen by Christian pilgrims visiting the site in centuries past.

The restoration project will reportedly continue over the next three years, focussing on the church’s capitals columns, stone floor and floor mosaics. I look forward to seeing the end result.

Stunning drone-based aerial photos of world heritage sites

While lately it seems that the only stories about drones in the media centre on interference with conventional aircraft by careless (or curious) operators, I was heartened to read The Australian’s recent photo feature on world heritage sites as captured by a collective of Russia-based drone photography enthusiasts.

The group is known as AirPano and they have captured some truly stunning photos of several of the planet’s best known heritage sites, including the Great Wall of China, Petra, the Roman Colosseum, Machu Picchu, Corcovado, the Taj Mahal and Chichen Itza.

The photos are well worth look as are many of the other photos posed on AirPano’s website.

The mystery of Queen Victoria's disappearance at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Railway Terminus

Without a doubt the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), formerly known as Victoria Terminus Station, is one Mumbai's most iconic buildings and an outstanding example of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture in India. Inscribed as a world heritage site in 2004, CST continues to serve as a key transportation hub for Mumbai, with three million commuters passing through its doors daily!

While the terminus featured most recently in international news headlines in 2008 when it was the site of a bloody attack in which gunmen killed 58 people and injured more than 100, a new intrigue is playing out at the CST this week as the disappearance of a

a new (if much lesser) indignity has been visited on the CST with the coming to light of the mysterious disappearance of the station's imposing statue of Queen Victoria.

While the statue had been relocated from the CST in the 1950s as part of a national campaign to rid the country of its colonial vestiges, it was being kept in the grounds of a nearby zoo until it vanished without a trace, and railway officials contacted by the Indian Express newspaper are reportedly "clueless", not only as to the statue's whereabouts but even when it was taken.

Historians and conservationists are understandably worried, and it is widely assumed that the statue has been spirited away and sold.

Foreign tourists abandon Egypt

Few countries in the world can rival Egypt for its remarkable geography and wondrous monuments, including of course the pyramid fields from Giza to Dahshur, a world heritage site since 1997. While in years past this made Egypt one of the most visited countries in the world (14 million foreign tourists came in 2010 alone), the violence and unrest has taken its toll, despite the best efforts of the country's strongman president, Mr. Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, to crack down on opposition.

With the exodus of Russian tourists following the explosion on a Moscow-bound passenger aeroplane in October 2015 foreign tourists have all but disappeared. Cited by the Nikkei Asian Review, one trinket seller in the vicinity of the Giza pyramids lamented: "I've been doing business here for 15 years and now is the worst. It's really difficult to make a living."

Unfortunately, given the authorities' continuing campaign against Islamic militants within Egypt as well the seemingly endless strife in nearby countries, whether Syria, Iraq or Libya, prospects for the Egyptian tourism industry remain grim for the foreseeable future.

Hadrian's Wall: Roman limes and refugee camps

Having become fascinated with Roman Britain as a child reader of Rosemary Sutcliff's historical fiction (including her excellent book Eagle of the Ninth, which was recently resurrected as a passable Hollywood blockbuster), Hadrian's Wall was high on my destination list when visiting Northern England in the early 1990s. I was not disappointed.

Built on the order of Emperor Hadrian in 122 CE, the wall marked the northern limit of the Roman Empire for nearly 300 years. As both an engineering feat and embodiment of the might of one of the word's first superpowers, Hadrian's Wall was deservedly inscribed as a world heritage site in 1987.

Today, Hadrian's Wall continues to be the focus of archaeological excavation and study. In a remarkable parallel with the challenges facing contemporary Europe, archaeological discoveries in the vicinity of the Wall include a "refugeecamp" near a Roman fort thought to have housed hundreds of families that were regarded as traitors and collaborators in the eyes of tribes rebelling against Roman rule in the early 2nd century CE.

Heritage villages under threat in Malaysia?

Melaka and George Town, historic cities of the Straits of Malacca, are one of four world heritage sites in Malaysia. As noted by UNESCO, the influences of Asia and Europe have endowed the towns with a specific multicultural heritage that is both tangible and intangible, reflecting 500 years of trade and other exchanges.

Today the cities receive millions of visitors, yet nearby traditional Malay villages are being razed to make way for the rapid urban development that is now nearly ubiquitous throughout South-East Asia. However, as recently reported by the Rakyat Post, developers plans are sparking a lively debate as to what constitutes heritage, and prompting one opposition politician to claim that the state government's "idea of preserving heritage is all about the Unesco World Heritage site, but what about these kampungs [villages] with a living heritage?”

Of course, the tension between "living heritage" and "preserved heritage" is not unique to Malaysia, and it is difficult to get the balance right. However, it is worth making the effort. While everyone can point to a historically significant site which is being overrun by developers and hustlers, there is something sterile and unsatisfying to visit a site that has been stripped bare of the social and community fabric from which it was created.

Promoting tourism in Ireland via the latest Star Wars blockbuster

As the Hollywood marketing machine floods every available social medium in an effort to promote its latest Star Wars offering, Irish tourism authorities seem to be finding the urge to capitalize on the hype irresistible.

With the opening of the film just a day away, Skellig Michael - a world heritage site on an island off the Irish coast - is being promoted as the location of a "key scene" in the movie. The excitement has even reached the halls of the Irish parliament, where Minister for the Arts Heather Humphrey is reportedly "looking forward to seeing how Sceilg Mhichíl will feature on the big screen."

While the attempt to promote tourism via a Hollywood blockbuster is nothing new, the risk - as always - is to do so in a respectful and sustainable manner, given the environmental sensitivity of sites like Skellig Michael.

World heritage site in Kyiv becomes the latest battleground in the Ukraine-Russia conflict

In the face of continuing tensions between Ukraine and Russia, the latest flashpoint is far from the battlefields of Donetsk but no less symbolic to both sides in the conflict.

The Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, a world heritage site consisting of an ensemble of monastic buildings dating back to the 11th century near the banks of the Dnieper River, is in the middle of a tug of war between the Kyiv and Moscow Patriarchates of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Broadly representing the two principal communities in Ukraine's divided society, the Patriarchates are at odds on other issues as well, although this conflict is likely to be particularly divisive.

While the Kyiv Patriarchate has reportedly collected more than 10,000 signatures in favour of transferring control over the site, not surprisingly the Moscow Patriarchate is strongly opposed, likening the move to the clampdown on religious activities during the Soviet period.

At this stage the prospects for a compromise do not look promising.

Survey uncovers 300 historical buildings in Old Delhi

In an effort to bolster India's 2012 application for UNESCO to inscribe Old Delhi as a world heritage site, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has undertaken an in-depth survey, as a result of which 300 historical buildings have reportedly been added to a list which already features over 1,000.

Most of the properties date from the British colonial period, although some go back to the Mughal era. Some of the havelis (mansions) identified through the survey are in good condition, but many are decrepit as their private owners are unable or ill-disposed to maintain them.

Syria accuses Turkey over illicit antiquities trade

In the latest flashpoint in the already fraught relationship between Syria and Turkey, Mr. Maamoun Abdulkarim, Syria's head of antiquities, has accused Ankara of refusing to return looted objects from heritage sites in Syria or provide information about them. Speaking to the Reuters News Agency, Mr. Abdulkarim claimed that Turkey has seized 2,000 heritage objects, compared to 300 seized by Jordan and 90 by Lebanon. Meanwhile, Syrian authorities have themselves recovered over 6,000 pieces from smugglers.

Of course, it is not just neighbouring states which have a role to playing to play in stopping the illicit trade in antiquities. Both dealers and governmnents in rich countries should equally do their part, particularly given that it is the demand for these pieces which continues to fuels the trade.

Islamic State militants seize control of world heritage site in Libya

News media are reporting today that another world heritage site has fallen into the hands of so-called Islamic State (IS). The archaeological site of Sabratha in north-western Libya, was a Phoenician trading-post before being integrated into the Roman Empire and rebuilt in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE.

According to The Times newspaper, IS fighters travelling in 30 pick-up trucks set up checkpoints throughout the city, with fears mounting regarding the archaeological site, which includes on the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres in the world.

Let's hope that Libya's IS militants does not seek to emulate the behaviour of their confrères in Palmyra...

Yangon: Prime candidate for world heritage status?

For anyone who has been in Yangon recently, it is clear that it is a city undergoing dramatic change. After decades of somnolence under Myanmar's military government, the recent political and economic thaw is producing rapid, seemingly uncontrolled development. During my visit earlier this year, traffic jams were among the worst I've experienced and construction hoardings were ubiquitous.

Typical street in central Yangon

However, Yangon remains a gem by any measure. Not only does it boast the highest number of colonial-era buildings anywhere in South-East Asia but its Shwedagon Pagoda should be on everyone must-visit list. As such, I agree with UNESCO National Project Officer Daw Ohnmar Myo's assessment, reported this week in the Myanmar Times, that Yangon is a prime candidate to be listed as a world heritage site.

Colonial-era building near Yangon's waterfront

While such a designation could also help to ensure protection of the city's many architectural treasures, whether an application is ever made remains an open question. Not only is there some confusion as to which level of government should take responsibility for coordinating the application, but certain business interests are unlikely to appreciate the limits on development that a world heritage designation would entail. Let's hope the case for heritage preservation wins the day.

Yangon's famed Shwedagon Pagoda

Canadian world heritage sites rendered in postage stamp form

Canada Post follows a well-worn tradition in Hollywood by recycling and repackaging past successes. In this case, a stamp series featuring five world heritage sites, previously issued in 2014, will be reprised next month in a new (and lower) denomination.

According to Linn's Stamp News & Insights, Heritage sites featured include Nova Scotia’s Old Town Lunenburg and Landscape of Grand Pre, Alberta’s Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Ontario’s Rideau Canal and S’Gang Gwaay on Anthony Island off the coast of British Columbia.

With Thailand having issued its own world heritage site stamp series in October, I wonder which country will be next to showcase its cultural and natural heritage in philatelic fashion?

Previously unkown Maroon site discovered in Jamaica's Blue and John Crow Mountains

As Jamaica's first world heritage site, the Blue and John Crow Mountains offer an incredibly diverse and rugged landscape which also served as a refuge for those resisting the European colonial system, whether the indigenous Tainos or subsequently Maroons, who were formerly enslaved peoples.

In its continuing archaeological study of the region, the Jamaica National Heritage Trust has recently discovered a previously unknown Maroon site, known as Quao, named after a Maroon leader who signed a peace agreement with the British in 1739. While exploration of the site is ongoing, evidence found so far points to sugar production and associated activities.

This will undoubtedly be an interesting story to watch to see what other discoveries are made regarding this and other Maroon sites in South-Eastern Jamaica.

Commercialism and conservation go head-to-head in Florence

If more proof were needed of the fine line between politics and cultural heritage, one need look no further than the furore that has erupted in Florence following the receet disclosure of a letter sent by UNESCO to Italian authorities. Echoing concerns that have already been voiced locally for some time, the letter raised concerns regarding the sale of historical palaces, the impact of large-scale infrastructure projects, including a high-speed train, and the lack of a tourism strategy for one Italy's most picturesque cities.

While it is difficult anywhere to get the balance right between preservation on the one hand and commerce on the other, unfortunately the lure of unbridled commercialism is particularly hard to resist where massive tourist volumes provide the temptation of easy money to individuals and businesses alike.

2015-16 UNESCO world heritage map published, just in time for Christmas...

Although it may not be fine art, what could look better on your living room wall than the latest edition of the UNESCO world heritage map? Available in English, French and Spanish, the map features an overview of all world heritage sites, brief explanations of the World Heritage Convention and the World Heritage conservation programmes.

A perfect (low-cost) Christmas present for anyone interested in world heritage!

Rising sea levels threaten world heritage site in West Africa

With the world's media focussed on the "COP21" climate conference in Paris this week, stories with a climate change angle are proliferating across the Internet. One of the most striking from my perspective is the impact of rising sea levels on the Island of Saint-Louis in Senegal. Saint-Louis, a world heritage site since 2000, became an entrepot for European traders in the second half of the 17th century, and the political capital of French West Africa (FWA) until 1902, and capital of Senegal and Mauritania up until 1957.

Today, the coast is being eroded at several points around the island and buildings in outlying villages are being washed away by the sea. According to UN-HABITAT, Saint-Louis is the most vulnerable city in Africa to rising sea levels. And while the Senegalese government has recently announced a USD1.6 million project to build breakwaters, much of the population is at risk, along with the island's unique cultural and natural heritage.