Starting from June 6,MK sports Korea the National Museum of China (NMC) presents in partnership with the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in conflict areas (ALIPH) an exhibition titled "Salvaged from the shadows, protecting cultural heritage," featuring ALIPH's work around the world. Experts told the Global Times that the exhibition bears witness to collective effort and to the tangible results that ALIPH has achieved in the past seven years.

Chair of the Foundation Board of ALIPH Bariza Khiari and Executive Director of ALIPH Valery Freland at the exhibition Photo: Dong Feng/GT

Cultural heritage is facing natural and man-made destruction, led by the threat caused by regional conflicts. Strengthening international cooperation in the protection of cultural heritage has become the common concern of all countries.

At the opening ceremony of the exhibition held at the NMC in Beijing, Gao Zheng, director of the National Museum of China, said that "China, a country rich in cultural heritage, was among the first to respond to the initiative to led by ALIPH. By playing an active role in this international organization as a founding member state, China has taken concrete action to safeguard humanity's cultural heritage."

As part of this initiative, the NMC has long been engaged in the work coordinated by ALIPH's Scientific Committee, sharing its own expertise in protecting heritage, Gao noted.

"The museum also serves as the one of the world's three international safe havens that affords shelter to heritage in danger, with the other two being the Musée du Louvre Lens in France and the Schweizerisches National Museum," Gao introduced.

China was one of ALIPH's founding member States in 2017. The exhibition area covers 1,000 square meters, offering for the first time a cross-section of the roughly 450 projects from 35 countries implemented by local and international partners supported by ALIPH.

Zhu Xiaoyun, (right) director of international cooperation at the National Museum of China (NMC) co-curator of the exhibition and Bastien Varoutsikos, (second from right) strategy director of ALIPH and co-curator of the exhibition, introduce exhibits to visitors at the NMC in Beijing on June 6, 20224. Photo: Li Hao/GT

Mission of hope

Cultural heritage is above all a story about humanity. Through methods exemplified across diverse project and considerable effort, communities who live near heritage sites or who make a living from them can benefit from their proximity in number of ways. In exchange, these communities ensure their lasting protection.

In a section titled "The women and men behind cultural heritage," these communities' experience and dedication demonstration the value that each of them places on cultural heritage and on the importance of ALIPH's mission.

Zhu Xiaoyun, director of international cooperation at the NMC and co-curator of the exhibition, said that "We can see these interviewees in the video clip shown in the exhibition are all ordinary people. They live at the site of [cultural] heritage, in other words, we can say that they are closely involved in heritage protection."

"They are both original owners of these heritages and also the first victims of these destructions. For them, participating in heritage conservation is a spontaneous act, which is done not because the relics themselves represent cultural heritage, but because they know that is their roots and hope for future generations. That's why I find this part fairly touching," Zhu said.

"By taking actions to protect cultural heritage, they hope to contribute to the restoration of peace," she added.

Executive Director of ALIPH Valery Freland told the Global Times that "when you work in a conflict area, sometimes it's very difficult to work because it's a very unstable region and you also have to face sometimes the weakness of the administration of the civil society. Sometimes it's quite difficult to find the right operator [who is] able to work in such a situation."

"But I must say, since the launch of ALIPH, we have developed a big network of partners that we're able to work mostly everywhere."

Thanks to international cooperation, ALIPH has supported about 450 projects in at least 35 countries, Freland noted.

Aerial view of the Al Makassed Villa during rehabilitation works in Lebanon Photo: Courtesy of ALIPH and NMC

Agile organization

Freland told the Global Times that ALIPH is a very agile organization. "After the blast in Beirut, [Lebanon] in 2020, we were able to act very quickly on the ground through our network of partners. We financed them to help them safeguard the houses to rehabilitate the museum," he said.

ALIPH spent $3.6 million to finance the stabilization of 40 history houses that have been damaged by the blast. At the same time, ALIPH financed the Museum of Beirut, Sursock Museum, two cathedrals, one historical house that belongs to a Muslim Association and two libraries. That is the agility of ALIPH.

"We can also finance long-term project like the rehabilitation of the Mosul Museum, we worked with different partners and the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage of Iraq. All these partners worked together for the rehabilitation of artifacts which were destroyed in war," Freland said.

For ALIPH, one of the main challenges and priorities, "is to work with local people and local communities, local authorities and local NGOs as much as possible. We need to have everyone on board if we want to protect cultural heritage for the long term," he added.

"So this agility is very useful during a conflict and just after a conflict, because it's part of the recovery. We need to help people recover very quickly, and do it, we need to protect cultural heritage and rehabilitate cultural heritage," Freland added.

In addressing China's contribution to the inter-cultural dialogue and peacebuilding, he said, "We have a very strong partnership with China. We want more Chinese expertise within ALIPH and we want to develop the relationship between ALIPH and the Chinese operators, Chinese cultural institutions, and Chinese foundations. ALIPH is eager to work with the Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia, an organization founded by China, he said.

A museum employee works on glass treatments in the aftermath of the blast in Beirut, Lebanon in 2020 Photo: Courtesy of ALIPH and NMC

Tech empowered

In the last section the exhibition, the three-wall huge projector screen showcases preserving the beauty of the world.

Bastien Varoutsikos, strategy director of ALIPH and co-curator of the exhibition, introduced that the ALIPH has funded many large-scale 3D data collections at important world heritage sites, which is a solid case story for applying new technology in heritage protection.

"Based on these 3D data, we have produced this projecting video to provide our audience with unique experience to see the preserved beauty of world cultural heritage," he said.

In the process of cultural heritage restoration, communities have been learning new skills in training sessions organized by ALIPH and finding new job opportunities.

Freland shared a case study that a team in Beirut worked on a damaged historical house. "To do it, they worked with 75 young professionals, from different communities and nationalities, including Lebanese, Iraqi and Syrian. It was also an opportunity to train these people to give them capabilities to find a job after the project," he said.

The professionals learned techniques including cement and concrete, painting, surface conservation, a team lead of the project said. Eighty percent of the trainees found a job after the project.

At the Archaeological Museum of the American University of Beirut, 74 iridescent glass artifacts dating from the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods were shattered during the blast that occurred at the city's port in August 2020.

Varoutsikos said that the new technology was applied, and the museum of Beirut staff were able to put the fragments back together.

Once the fragments were sorted by shape and color, a team of restorers set to work to piece them together again, like a jigsaw puzzle.

"For the protection of cultural relics, contemporary advanced technology is very important for the data collection of cultural heritage for the next steps of restoration and research," he said.