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Yan �1 Art Conservation During Conflicts
Introduction
Art is very valuable. It is a symbol of a society and represents the progress that
the society has made over time. Art is also a symbol of culture, helping to represent the
cultural disposition of a people. Through art, people are able to express their
individualistic uniqueness. However, throughout human history, there has been a trend
where elements of art suffer greatly during the time of conflicts. Right from the Second
World War where people in Europe made effort to save art from either being stolen or
destroyed by Nazis. This is a trend that has continued to this very day. On the African
Continent, precious elements of art were stolen during colonialism and are on display to
this very day. What’s sad about this is that the artists and creators whose pieces of art was
stolen do not benefit from the money made by museums where these pieces of art are on
display.
Times of war are usually perilous for art due to the different parties’ hatred
towards one another during the conflicts. Two sides going up against each other usually
view each other as enemies and have the intention of completely obliterating each other.
Part of doing this is getting rid of the artwork of the losing side. This artwork is usually
considered a symbol of the culture and civilization of that side and destroying it is
pertinent to the victory effort. This mode of thinking has led to numerous works of art
Yan �2 being destroyed. The fact that they have been destroyed means that the world is deprived
of the art from given societies and from given periods of time.
The following is a research paper that focuses on the dangers that art faces in
periods of war. It especially focuses on recent times and the failures of organizations such
as UNESCO to protect precious works of art and cultural heritage in times of conflict.
The research will be guided by the following research question:
How successful have existing organizations been in preserving art and cultural heritage in
times of conflict?
The research will also be tested by the following hypotheses:
Hypotheses 0(Null Hypothesis): existing organizations have not been successful in
preserving art and elements of cultural heritage during times of conflict.
Hypotheses 1(Alternative Hypothesis): existing organizations have been very successful
in preserving art and elements of cultural heritage during times of conflict.
Methodology
The research will focus mainly on qualitative methods. Secondary sources of
data such as publications on how art has been affected by war and how organizations
tasked with preserving art during times of war have lived up to their mandate will be
Yan �3 looked into. The aim is to analyze and assess the performance of these organizations
using modern standards. The research will also take into account modern forms of
warfare and the destructive capabilities of weapons that people currently have. This will
then be compared to the degree of preparation that the organizations tasked with the
preservation have and how this plays into their capacity to carry out their mandate.
The research will also look at the role that ideologies play in modern conflicts
and how this affects art. The premise is to determine whether ideologies in modern
warfare create an environment which is hostile towards art. An example of this is two
sides at conflict having certain ideologies on each other that paint the other side in a very
negative light. Such ideologies may lead to motivations to destroy art from the other side
as it is a representation of their culture and heritage.
Literature review
There have been several publications about crimes in the art world and
especially the trafficking of art during times of conflict. Bazley (2010) covers the general
issues of crimes in the art world and especially the trafficking of art. She notes that most
people in modern society do not necessarily have a high sense of reverence for art. This
means that they do not necessarily respect art as they should. They view art as a reserve
of the elites in society. This is one of the reasons she has noted that makes it easy to
traffic art during times of conflict. Many members of the population do not personally
take the effort to ensure that they help in the preservation of art. Rather they are more
Yan �4 concerned with saving their own lives and property. Thus, war is a ripe environment for
crimes in the art world.
Bell (2009) looks at the topic of fakes and forgeries in the art world and the role
that conflict plays in this unfortunate phenomenon. He notes that during times of conflict
art may be stolen and trafficked or destroyed. The fact that certain elements of art are no
longer present in their former location creates a demand for them. This demand is usually
filled by unscrupulous business people who have a gift in the arts but lack certain
elements of creative originality. To this effect, they can fake certain art pieces with the
aim of deceiving the population and making money from the venture.
Bell (2009) notes that the casual nature with which members of modern society
approach the subject of art is one of the main motivations behind the rising number of
fakes and forgeries. This casual approach means that the average person is not that
knowledgeable when it comes to art. They are not aware of the various stylistic devices
that are employed by artists from various part of the world. As a result of this ignorance,
they can easily be taken advantage of by people selling fake art. The fact that they do not
know the difference between the fakes and the originals means that they can be duped
into paying the premium price for fake art. This is a trend which hurts the art business
since artists do not get the revenue that they deserve from their work. Rather this revenue
goes to the merchants of fake pieces of art and imitations.
Hufnagel and Chappell (2014) present some very interesting perspectives on
actions taken against crimes committed in the world of art. They especially focus on the
Yan �5 European, Australian and North American perspectives. They note that there has been a
laxity to prosecute art crimes committed during periods of war. They draw special
attention to art pieces stolen from the continent of Africa by European powers during
colonialism. These pieces are still on display in European museums with the original
creators not benefiting from them at all. They note that these European countries are
exercising a sense of impunity when it comes to the prosecution of art related crimes by
ignoring their own crimes.
Monacorda and Chappell (2011) cover the subject of illegal trafficking in
cultural property. They note that it is illegal to traffic cultural property without the
express permission of the creators of the given property. They also note that there is a
ready market for such property. They point at the elites in the developed world as being
willing to purchase illegally trafficked cultural property without necessarily looking at the
origins of the property and the mechanisms through which the property came into their
possession.
Monacorda and Chappell (2011) note that instances of illegal trafficking in
cultural property usually rise in times of conflict. The conflict usually draws people’s
attention from contentious elements of cultural preservation. They give an example of a
fictional country at war. They not that the developed world will be more concerned about
saving the lives of the people in the country and making sure that the death toll is as low
as possible. In some cases, countries may make decisions on which side to support based
Yan �6 on political ideologies and alignment. There is no effort made to preserve the culture of
the people during this period.
There is a recurrent theme that is common in several of the sources analyzed
from this analysis. This is the theme of art trafficking being popular during times of war
as it is used to raise funds to aid in the war effort. Bazley (2010) and both Monacorda and
Chappell (2011) note that art trafficking is usually very popular especially during civil
wars. They note that this trafficking is a source of revenue by the warring sides.
These research pieces also note that this form of trafficking usually focuses on
the most precious pieces of art and expressions of cultural heritage. This is due to the fact
that they have the potential of raising the most money in the black market and in the
process helping to steer the war in terms of the side that has the most money to
effectively fund its efforts and perhaps make it to victory. They also note that there is a
tendency among the elites and unscrupulous art dealers to turn a blind eye when they
receive art from a conflict region. They note that these art dealers usually focus more on
the money they are likely to make from such transactions and not the crimes that they are
committing in the process.
The literature that has been analyzed presents some very important information
about art trafficking during times of conflict. They look at the motivations behind the
practice and some of the reasons why people in the western world are usually willing to
buy stolen pieces of art. However, there is a massive research gap when it comes to the
actions of organizations tasked with preserving art during the conflict. None of these
Yan �7 analyzed literature look at the dynamics of the actions of such organizations as well as
their rate of success or failure.
The research gap is a very essential one and has to be filled. To that extent, the
following research paper aims to look at the identified research gap and fill it as is
necessary. It is important to look at the modus operandi of organizations that have been
tasked with the preservation of art during times of conflict. It is also important to analyze
their rate of success in order to determine whether they are in themselves sufficient or
whether there needs to be a new organization that lacks the weaknesses that the existing
ones have.
Data analysis
The recent conflict in the Middle East is a vivid example of how art usually
suffers in times of conflict. In the year 2015, members of the terrorist group ISIS shocked
the world with their heinous actions and outrageous statements. They not only carried out
beheadings and live streamed them on the internet, but they also engaged in other crimes
against humanity. The group attacked the art world in the year 2015 when they destroyed
the Mosul Museum in Iraq (Al Jazeera, 2017). They also engaged in the destruction of
heritage sites in Syria as well as Iraq. The purpose of this destruction was the symbolic
nature of these heritage sites and the claim that these heritage sites did not appeal to their
religious inclinations and ideologies about the perfect world.
There were suspicions that the terrorist group ISIS was also taking part in
antique trafficking. However, the secretive nature of the organization about its internal
Yan �8 mechanics made this difficult to prove. Had this been proven their interference with art
would have been categorized as a matter of national security and not just heritage
preservation. This means that their actions against heritage sites and art never got the
stern attention deserved from the western world.
The International Council of Museums has been very vocal when it comes to the
trafficking of art. Each year the council publishes a list of rare objects that are likely to
turn up in the international market (Al Jazeera, 2017). However, this organization only
goes as far as creating the list for the sake of public knowledge. There is no distinct
action that is taken to prevent people from actually buying these rare objects that are in
the market illegally. The actions of the organization have also been faulted for helping in
illegal art trafficking. There have been accusations that the list that the organization
makes actually helps the black market at dealers to know exactly what to be on the
lookout for. This means that they are given a proprietary shopping list by the organization
and immediately start looking out for the identified objects as well as potential buyers.
The conflict in Syria has brought to the forefront actions of organizations such as
the Association for the Protection of Syrian Archaeology abbreviated as APSA. This
organization has been very active in recording instances of plundering of heritage sites
and museums since the beginning of the Syrian civil war. The organization has noted that
all armed organizations in Syria have a role to play in the plundering of museums and
heritage sites (Al Jazeera, 2017). This means that even U.S. backed forces in the country
Yan �9 are responsible for this crime. However, the United States is willing to overlook this
crime as the groups in question are aligned with them in terms of their ideology.
The Hague Convention of 1954, the Convention on Illicit Traffic of Cultural
Property of 1970 and the World Heritage Convention of 1972 have all been legal
instruments tasked with the prevention of the destruction and trafficking of art during
times of conflict (Carnegie Ethics, 2013). However, the actions of all these legal
instruments have been lacking. It is important to note that in recent times the looting of
art has not been as organized as it was during the Second World War. The Nazis carried
out among the most well-organized looting campaigns in human history. The fact that
their level of organization is nonexistent in modern looting campaigns does not mean that
they have not been successful. They have been successful but are only carried out on a
smaller scale.
UNESCO is a body that has been tasked with the preservation of cultural
heritage sites. To achieve this, it has gone to declare several cultural heritage sites all over
the world. Once a given region is declared a cultural heritage site it has to be preserved
and protected. This has gone a very long way in the protection of several cultural heritage
sites from all over the world. However, the declaration of cultural heritage sites and their
preservation has only been successful in periods of peace. There has been no effort by
UNESCO to actually preserve these cultural heritage sites during times of conflict.
UNESCO notes that there have been numerous instances in which The Hague
Convention has been breached. Examples include the bombardment of Paphos in Cyprus
Yan �10 by Turkey in the year 1974. Another prime example is the military operation that took
place in the renowned archeological site of Tyre during the conflict between Israel and
the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon in the years 1982 to 1983. During the
conflict between Iraq and Iran, it was also reported that Iraq was responsible for the
bombing of historical and cultural heritage sites in Abadan and Shush (Teijgeler, 1994).
Findings
It is clear that there are organizations that have been tasked with the protection
of art during times of conflicts. Organizations such as UNESCO have gone a very long
way in protecting cultural heritage sites all over the world. The sites that have been
declared as cultural heritage sites have fallen under the protection of governments in the
region, meaning that they cannot be destroyed by people such as contractors looking for
prime land to build apartment buildings.
It is undeniable the there are legal instruments such as international treaties that
prohibit the pillaging of art and items of cultural heritage during the war. UNESCO goes
as far as to document the instances in which there have been cases or art being stolen or
destroyed during the conflict. However, the actions of the organization do not go very far
when it comes to prevention of the stealing of these pieces of art during the conflict.
It is clear from the data that organizations aimed at protecting art and elements
of cultural heritage have been very successful in doing so during periods of peace. They
Yan �11 have helped to ensure that certain regions are protected from all forms of encroachment.
However, none of these organizations has been successful in stopping art from being
stolen during periods of conflict. Their ineffectiveness is a testament of the notion that art
usually takes a back seat when it comes to conflict. People are usually not that concerned
with the preservation of art. Rather they focus on other elements such as the humanitarian
effort.
The findings from the research lead to the disproving of the null hypothesis and
the affirming of the alternative hypothesis. It is true that there has been an effort to
preserve art and elements of culture. However, this effort has been very weak if at all
existent in conflict regions. Organizations tasked with the preservation of art during times
of war have failed in their mandate numerous times. Their numerous instances of failure
means that it is not a coincidence but rather it is a trend. They are completely incapable of
preserving art during times of conflict. They can go as far as recording art pieces that
have been stolen during times of conflict but that is barely a deterrent measure.
There are some organizations that go as far as posting a list of stolen art pieces
that are likely to make it to the international black market. This is a move made in good
faith with the aim of preventing people from buying these stolen pieces of art. However,
this action has also turned to total failure. Their postings serve as a notice to unscrupulous
art dealers and buyers on exactly what to look out for within a given year.
Conclusion and recommendations
Yan �12 It is clear that the organizations tasked with the preservation of art during times
of conflict have failed drastically at their mandate. They have done a lot to help the world
of art during times of peace. However, their efforts have been lacking during the conflict.
To this effect, there is a need for an organization that is specially tasked with the
preservation of art during times of conflict. The organization can operate in conflict areas
and help to locate precious art pieces and help to preserve them. It can also coordinate
actions with museums during times of war. The aim of these actions includes to alert the
museums and set up a mechanism through which they can evacuate their items before
they are pillaged during the conflict. This organization is highly necessary and will go a
long way in preserving art and elements of cultural heritage during times of war.
Works Cited
Yan �13 Al Jazeera. (2017, March 17). Art Trafficking. Retrieved from https://
www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2017/02/art-
trafficking-170228090044987.html
Bazley, T. (2010). Crimes of the Art World. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Bell, S. (2009). Fakes and Forgeries. New York, NY: Infobase Publishing.
Carnegie Ethics. (2013, September 17). The Fate of Cultural Property in Wartime: Why
it Matters and What Should Be Done. Retrieved from https://
www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/ethics_online/0085
Hufnagel, D. S., & Chappell, P. D. (2014). Contemporary Perspectives on the Detection,
Investigation and Prosecution of Art Crime: Australasian, European and North
American Perspectives. Surrey, England: Ashgate Publishing.
Manacorda, S., & Chappell, D. (2011). Crime in the Art and Antiquities World: Illegal
Trafficking in Cultural Property. Berlin, Germany: Springer Science & Business
Media.
Teijgeler, R. (1994, March 1). Preserving cultural heritage in times of conflict. Retrieved
from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
270216945_Preserving_cultural_heritage_in_times_of_conflict