COMPETING HERITAGE: CURATING THE POST-CONFLICT HERITAGE OF ROMAN SYRIA∗

Abstract

Since the beginning of the armed conflicts and public uprisings that accompanied and followed the ‘Arab Spring’ that started in 2010, cultural heritage sites have been hit hard, damaged and often destroyed by different perpetrators. The Syrian Civil War has resulted in unprecedented damage to cultural heritage sites, monuments, and facilities. This has provoked observers, politicians, and international and national non-government organizations to debate about the impacts of damaging Syria’s ‘irreplaceable’ patrimony and how to safeguard its past from the ongoing destructive actions. This paper investigates the transformation of the terminology of heritage—and the uses of heritage—in Syria before and during the ongoing conflict, and how the internationally renowned term ‘heritage’ emerged to promote the destruction of Syria’s cultural patrimony. This paper explores the semantics and impacts of the continuous destruction and the ongoing reconstruction plans on the cultural heritage of Syria. To conclude, I argue that those destructive actions started a process of ‘heritagizing’ the present which will eventually become a part of the Syrian collective memory.