Stop Press

A compilation of media articles on heritage topics. Obviously, these all reflect the viewpoints of the authors.

30 January

• Heart of Sharjah redevelopment makes progress
  The National, United Arab Emirates
  Contractors are racing against time to finish the first phase of Sharjah's five-stage redevelopment project before the 10th Sharjah Biennial in April.

28 January

• Country needs more heritage conservators: Agarwal
  Times of India
  Better known as the first citizen of art conservation, city's O P Agarwal has been conferred Padma Shri award this year. The award recognises his immense contribution in the field of conservation of heritage.

26 January

• Vietnam's own 'great wall' uncovered
  CNN, United States
  Nestled in the mountain foothills of a remote province in central Vietnam, one of the country's most important archaeological discoveries in a century has recently come to light.

• Beirut's Old Buildings Again Under Threat
  New York Times , United States
  But last year, frustrated by the changing face of their neighborhoods — and in some cases threats to their familial homes — young residents-turned-activists formed Save Beirut Heritage, a nongovernmental organization aimed at preserving the city’s remaining architectural heritage.

23 January

• UNESCO-led team begins Tilourakot excavation
  The Himalayan Times, Nepal
  A UNESCO-lead team has initiated the excavation of the historical Tilourakot palace, where Gautam Buddha is believed to have spent 29 years of his life.

• Stolen Degas returned to France after 37 years
  The Independent, United Kingdom
  A small but very precious painting by Edgar Degas, stolen from a French museum 37 years ago, has been returned to its rightful owners.

18 January

• Librarians rewrite the book on disaster recovery
  IT News, Australia
  When flood waters threatened to breach the banks of the Brisbane River last Wednesday, the State Library of Queensland looked to be one of its first casualties.

17 January

• Saint-Sulpice retrouve sa tour nord
  Le Figaro, France
  La restauration de cet édifice XVIIe aura duré onze ans, coûté 28 M€ et nécessité une dépose complète, pierre par pierre.

• China: A history still being unearthed
  The Telegraph, United Kingdom
  Nigel Richardson reports on tombs in China that have been ignored in the hype over the Terracotta Warriors.

• Development planning and the hurdles ahead
  Scoopnews, India
  Several disaster prone countries in South Asia including India are making efforts to mainstream disaster risk reduction in their development planning. Despite these positive initiatives there are several gap areas in preparedness, response and recovery actions. Culture still remains the weakest link in the field of disaster risk management.

16 January

• Cunning, Care and Sheer Luck Save Rare Map
  New York Times, United States
  It was rolled up among other yellowed maps and prints that came off a delivery truck at the Brooklyn Historical Society’s stately office near the East River. Carolyn Hansen, the society’s map cataloguer, began to gently unfurl the canvas.

15 January

• A case for a national mission on museums
  The Hindu, India
  It may be time for a planned five-year approach to renew the thousands of museums across India.

14 January

• Restoring a masterwork
  Yale Daily News, United States
  Velazquez’s “The Education of the Virgin,” currently on display at the Yale University Art Gallery, will soon be undergoing an extensive restoration that may take up to four years.

12 January

• One year on and Haiti still lies in ruins
  The Art Newspaper
  The reconstruction of Haiti’s badly damaged art and cultural heritage institutions was suspended this December in the wake of violent protests that ripped through capital Port-au-Prince.

10 January

• Le Marché Hyppolite, tel le Phénix, renaît de ses cendres
  Le Nouvelliste, Haïti
  Le Marché Hyppolite, classé 34e patrimoine historique national par l'Etat haïtien, vient d'être restauré. Cette restauration participe du plan de la reconstruction et de la mise en valeur du patrimoine historique et culturel du pays.

8 January

• Historic buildings: The problem with preservation
  Toronto Star, Canada
  On the northeast corner of Yonge and Gould Streets, just across from the former and now fire-gutted Empress Hotel, sits a vacant lot strewn with rubble.

5 January

• New call to protect Romanian site from gold mine project
  Financial Post, Canada
  The Romanian Academy on Wednesday urged the ministry of culture to include a former Roman site in its tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage to protect it from a Canadian gold mine project.
  

4 January

• Repair Damaged Artwork Yourself? Maybe Not
  The Huffington Post, United States
  White bread, raw garlic, onions and potatoes may sound alright if you're hungry, but some people believe that they can clean oil paintings with them.
  

2 January

• A Triage to Save the Ruins of Babylon
  New York Times, United States
  The damage done to the ruins of ancient Babylon is visible from a small hilltop near the Tower of Babel, whose biblical importance is hard to envision from what is left of it today.

• Bhutan's endangered temple art treasures
  The Guardian, United Kingdom
  British art experts have been given unique access to the hidden heritage of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, including spectacular 16th- to 19th- century wall paintings from its 2,000 temples and monasteries.

• Detroit in ruins
  The Guardian, United Kingdom
  Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre's extraordinary photographs documenting the dramatic decline of a major American city.

updated on: 7 February, 2011