In the first course module (Weeks 1 & 2), we will become familiar with key definitions and concepts regarding the relationship and entanglement of security in the enterprise of protecting cultural heritages (tangible and intangible). At this early stage in the program, this foundational knowledge will be presented in other courses as well. It's important enough to bear repeating. While the module generally addresses the history and institutional foundations of cultural heritage protection, I am gradually shifting the regional focus to Europe, specifically the European Union.
According to UNESCO and the 1954 Hague Convention, cultural heritage is considered part of humanity’s common security. Later in the course we will explore how that translates as "human security." When cultural sites are destroyed, looted, or erased, the loss extends beyond one nation or group—it weakens social identity, it can become a tool of warfare or propaganda, it fuels political and economic instability, and by extension, threatens "human security."
In the 1990s, UNESCO, the European Union, and later ICCROM and ICOMOS adopted the “human-security” logic, recognizing that cultural destruction or loss can destabilize societies just as profoundly as violence or poverty.
The European Union’s approach today, echoed in its 2023 Council Conclusions on EU Approach to Cultural Heritage in Conflicts and Crises, treats heritage security as a pillar of peacebuilding and human security. It’s about safeguarding monuments and the cultural fabric that holds societies together.
| SCHER2_Course syllabus_2026 | ||
| A future in ruins_UNESCO, world heritage, and the dream of peace - Preface | ||
| The Warden of World Heritage: UNESCO and the Rescue of the Nubian Monuments | ||
| MODULE I: Lecture - Understanding Cultural Heritage Protection - The Security Dimension Key definitions and concepts: When we talk about security in relation to cultural heritage, we’re not just talking about guards at a museum or fences around an archaeological site. In the heritage field, “security” refers to the protection of cultural assets—tangible and intangible—from threats that can be physical, environmental, political, economic, or even digital. |
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| UNESCO - Saving Abu Simbel - Start on 6' Digitized by the UNESCO Archives. A production of UNESCO and the Abu Simbel Joint Venture. When the work began on the High Aswan Dam in Upper Egypt, the two temples of Abu Simbel, carved in the living rock which rises from the banks of the Nile, were threatened with destruction. In following the course of the International Campaign launched by UNESCO in 1960, the film reveals the archaeological significance of the temples. It shows how they were dismantled and removed stone by stone to higher ground, where, reconstructed, they now stand in all their grandeur, orientated as before towards the river and the sun. https://on.unesco.org/2z4oM9L |
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| Learning how to use UNESCO's World Heritage Sites Navigator - Overview |
