Assyriologi - om oldtidens Irak, og den irakiske kulturarv

Irak-krigen har været en katastrofe for Iraks før-islamiske kulturarv.

Arkæologiske sites er bogstavligt talt blevet gennemhullet af røvere på jagt efter genstande, der - ofte på bestilling - kan afsættes til rige samlere i Vesten.

Resultatet: De gamle byhøje er forvandlede til nøgne månelandskaber; frarøvet den rige kulturarv, som de har bevaret i årtusinder.

For forskningen betyder det en uoprettelig skad. Historie uden kontekst!

Uden at vide, hvor og i hilken sammenhæng, som genstandene har indgået, bliver vi frataget den unikke mulighed, som vi har for at studere en af menneskehedens ældste højkulturer. Det avr her, at byer og skrift første gang så dagens lys for over 5000 år siden.

Her kan du se en film, om situationen i Irak: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3519855663545752103&q=The+Real+Iraq%3A&pr=goog-sl

Iraks nationalbibliotek og -arkiv

Friends and colleagues,

I have just received the grave and deeply dispiriting news from Dr.Saad Eskander that he has closed the Iraq National Library andArchive for the time being as of last Tuesday. On 15 November, heinformed me that his institution had been bombed thrice in threeweeks, and subjected to sniper fire, including directly into his ownoffice. Another young librarian was recently murdered, and thebuilding had been shelled several times in the few days previous tothe closing (by which I assume he meant mortar fire).Dr. Eskander has been a model of progressive action, has increasedhis staff substantially, and has striven very hard to gain themtraining on several fronts, and otherwise restore functioning to aninstitution that was twice set on fire during the initial period ofAmerican occupation. Prompted by a question from me concerning howhe was managing to keep such a large staff coming to work under suchperilous circumstances, he informed me last spring that he wasdedicating 30% of his budget to bussing them all back and forth eachday, although three of his drivers had been murdered in the process.However necessary, this was financially untenable as a long-termaccommodation to the exigencies of the times. As we all know, thesituation has only grown worse since then, and the repeated directattacks on his institution made it a place he could no longer ask hisstaff to serve. The forces of intolerance are thriving, and thoseinstitutions and persons representing a progressive and hopefulfuture for Iraq are under assault and in retreat.

Yours truly,
Jeff--

******************************
Jeffrey B. Spurr
Islamic and Middle East Specialist
Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture
Fine Arts Library, Harvard University
Fogg Art Museum
32 Quincy St.Cambridge, MA 02138-3802

http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/finearts/collections/agakhan.html


http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/finearts/islamicclass/index.html


http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/finearts/collections/semitic.html


http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/finearts/collections/semitic_access.html


http://archnet.org/lobby.tcl


http://archnet.org/library/documents/one-document.tcl?document_id=6041


http://archnet.org/library/documents/one-document.tcl?document_id=6042

0 kommentarer

Abonner på: Opslag (Atom)