Daily Archives: February 2, 2011

Like many of you, I have been riveted by what has been transpiring in Egypt over the last few days and hope this conflict comes to a speedy and safe conclusion. I know this story is a day old now, but I still wanted to show how vulnerable history and heritage protection can be in the wake of a political and social crisis no matter where it happens.

Reports are coming out of Egypt of how looters have tried to make their way into many locations from the Cairo Museum to the tombs of Saqqara to “steal” back Egypt’s history and keep it from leaving the country. Yet, there are other stories of young people rushing to defend places from looters like the Bibliotheca Alexandria, which contains some of Egypt’s oldest and most culturally significant heritage artifacts. In the wake of political crisis, it is difficult to determine just how truthful any allegations are. Yet, it raises a very interesting question about who is “in charge” of heritage protection. Is it the political system? Is it academics who tell us what is historically important? Or in this case, in the words of Dr. Zahi Hawass, is it the responsibility of all people of the world? regardless, it is an interesting look into the political motivations and values of cultural heritage of a nation whether it is Egypt or anywhere else.

For more about the situation in Alexandria, here is a link to an article by Benedicte Page for the Guardian Newspaper.

Hello everyone,

It has always been a pleasure to have been interviewed throughout my career on various projects I have been involved with. But, when it comes down to being interviewed by a fellow heritage professional on working in the industry…well that surely ranks as a “top 10″ event for sure.

I was recently interviewed by my colleague and fellow “warrior in heritage”, Kayla Jonas, for her wonderful blog Adventures in Heritage. That interview was posted today on her blog and you can read it right here. This is part of series of interviews Kayla is conducting over the next several weeks with people who are involved in many aspects of the heritage industry. Please check it out. And while you are there, read through Kayla’s posts. Adventures in Heritage is a great blog and I applaude both Kayla’s work and insight into built heritage.