Submitted by veigapaula on Wed, 03/17/2010 - 17:23
A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to take part in the scanning of a female mummy from ancient Egypt, and to take photos to document the experience. This young girl was only around 25 at the age of death, and survived in relative peace for thousands of years. In the last century, however, she's been used as a bargaining tool by the Germans, survived attacks by torpedos and fires, and even suffered physical traumas.
The results of the 'What value do replicas hold?' Heritage Key survey are in! Everybody agrees that a replica - regardless of how real it looks - can only ever be a duplicate. Yet the vast majority (79.28%) of those who took our 'What value do replicas hold?' survey see good use for these clones, in educations, research, protection from damage and saving on travel costs.
The 'birthplace of drama' - the Theatre of Dionysus, located on the south slope of the Acropolis - is to be partially restored in a €6 million project that is set for completion in 2015. The ancient open-air theatre in Athens saw the première of many of the great dramatic works written during the 'golden age' of Greek Tragedy.
Famous ancient playwrights - such as Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles and Aristophanes - took part in competitions staged twice yearly at the Dionysus theatre; the City Dionysia festival during the spring and the Lenaia in wintertime.
The limestone and marble version of the theatre - built in the 4th century BC - seated an estimated 14,000 to 17,000 spectators.
Submitted by Michael Kan on Wed, 11/25/2009 - 17:22
He Shuzhong knows how bad the situation is: everyday something of cultural value is destroyed in China, he says. All he need do is pick up his cell phone, which also happens to act as a cultural protection hotline.
“Do you know how many people have my cell phone number? I estimate it’s in the tens of thousands,” he said. “So everyday there’s someone who calls and tells us their situation.”
He is the founder and chairman of the Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center. For over the last decade, he and volunteers have worked to preserve places of historical value in both Beijing and across China. But with the country’s nonstop economic growth, construction projects continue to threaten and destroy numerous places of cultural worth.
“To speak honestly, about half of the people who contact us, we can’t do anything about. I can’t even record them all down,” He said.
Submitted by Bija Knowles on Wed, 11/25/2009 - 09:26
In the small town of Casola di Napoli, about three miles south of the archaeological site of Pompeii, sheer chance has brought to light an archaeological discovery – as well as some unanswered questions. A lorry driver was manoeuvring his van when he managed to cause some subsidence in part of a car park between two residential buildings. A hole opened in the ground – revealing a stone arch and some walls.
Newport Castle is a ruined 14th century castle in the centre of the the city of Newport, south Wales. It is this castle that - in the Welsh language - gives Newport its name, Castell Newydd, shortened to Casnewydd ('New Castle'). However, the castle was never a particularly important centre of government (it was only active for 200 years) and it exists today in a state of severe disrepair, with large parts demolished to make way for roads and railways. In 2003, it was sealed off from the public altogether because it is too hazardous to enter.
Only the castle's east side remains, squeezed between a busy modern road and roundabout and neglected for centuries. The high tidal range of the River Usk has caused considerable damage to the castle's remains over the years. The best hope visitors have of seeing its existing remains are from the nearby Newport Bridge or Riverfront Theatre. A footpath once ran nearby, but it too was closed in 2006.
While no plans for a physical restoration of Newport Castle are in any advanced stage, a virtual reconstruction of the building has been created by the University of Wales Newport's Institute of Digital Learning (IDL) and will go online on the IDL's Second Life island soon, alongside other virtual Welsh heritage sites and artefacts, including the Newport Ship.
The Newport Ship is a large 15th century wooden sailing vessel, discovered by archaeologists buried in the west bank of the River Usk, at the site where - at the time - the city's Riverfront Arts Centre was being built. It is currently undergoing a £3.5 million restoration at the expense of the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Welsh Assembly Government and Newport City Council, following a campaign by local people for funds to be found for its preservation.
All of the ships remains have been lifted from the site, and are currently undergoind painstaking restoration and conservation work at a local industrial unit described by the local council as "the biggest wood conservation centre in the UK." Eventually, it will be rebuilt to the fullest possible extent and put on display for the public at an as-yet undesignated site (plans for display in the basement of the Riverfront Arts Centre have been shelved due to the ship's vast size).
Having been a tour leader for an adventure travel company, I was interested to read the recently published World Monuments Fund (WMF) guidelines for sustainable tourism, all of which have been inadvertently followed for years by conscientious tourists and tour companies.
In 2003, Professor Marika Vicziany, director of the Monash University Asia Institute in Australia, and director also of the National Centre For South Asian Studies, pioneered a groundbreaking project to record and preserve Kashgar's little documented heritage sites.
A key goal of the project was to write and release a book about the region's people and their cultural heritage. It was hoped the book would encourage and promote tourism to the area, thus boosting cultural awareness, the local economy and infrastrusture.
That book, Kashgar: Oasis City on China's Old Silk Road, has now been released in the West, with Chinese editions to follow. It carries essays by the academics George Michell and Yen Hu Tsui, as well as by Professor Vicziany; it features photographs by John Gollings.
Highlighted Quote:
The first objective should be the training of local cultural tour guides who have a sophisticated understanding of the history and culture of the region
18th dynasty pharaoh Amenhotep III was the king of Egyptian kings. Under his rule, from around 1391 to 1353 BC, Egyptian civilization reached its very apex – all powerful, influential beyond compare, rich beyond dreams and basking in opulent artistic splendour. In a list compiled by American business and financial bible Forbes in 2008, Amenhotep was ranked as the 12th richest person in human history.
