The position of culture in war and peace
In any conflict situation – insurrection, civil war or international war – clearly the paramount concern is the lives and livelihoods of local citizens. But conflict often threatens the cultural artefacts and therefore the cultural identity of a nation or locality.
I did a posting recently about the destruction of the ancient souk in Aleppo last weekend. Today the National Museum of Bosnia-Herzegovina is to close as a consequence of the political settlement that ended the civil war in that part of former Yugoslavia. You can read more about this here.
I am particularly saddened by this because, during a visit to Sarajevo in 2007, my sister and I visited this museum especially to view the Sarajevo Haggadah, an illuminated 14th-century Jewish manuscript which has been valued at $700m. You can read an account of our trip here [the visit to the National Museum was on Day Two].