Preserving Iraq's Heritage Sites

Iraq is one huge world heritage site, a unique storehouse of art and archaeology. Will the war destroy the 'cradle of civilization'?

1 minute read

April 3, 2003, 9:00 AM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"It may have only a single official Unesco listing but, with 1,000 acknowledged archaeological sites, Iraq is one huge world heritage zone. And on to this in the past few days have poured 740 Tomahawk cruise missiles, 8,000 smart bombs and an unknown number of stupid ones... In museums and universities across the world, scholars and curators are fearful of another armageddon. One not perpetrated on the Iraqi people but on their history and monuments. Iraq, particularly the green heart of Mesopotamia, the fertile crescent of land between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, is the cradle of civilisation, the land of Nineveh, Babylon, Nimrud and Uruk, the world's first city."

Thanks to ArchNewsNow.com

Thursday, April 3, 2003 in The Guardian Unlimited

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