Current Lecture Series: Cultural Heritage in the Middle East and Central Asia. Conservation and Destruction

Where? Online and on Campus

When? 09.10.24-22.01.2025, Wednesdays, 5-6:30 pm

View the programm below or download here.

This lecture series, Cultural Heritage in the Middle East and Central Asia: Conservation and Destruction, investigates the complex processes involved in producing, preserving, and, at times, destroying cultural heritage in the SWANA region (Southwest Asia and North Africa). Heritage is a living process—a space in the present and future for the material and ecological cultures of the past. The series delves into heritage practices in the Middle East and Central Asia, emphasizing the varied impacts of preservation efforts as well as the forces driving decay and erasure.

Distinguished speakers from Vienna and abroad will examine how heritage is celebrated, displayed, and sometimes erased, raising questions on the forces that shape heritage in museums and public spaces. From intellectual preservation and knowledge production to political acts of destruction, the lectures will consider both the constructive and destructive dimensions of heritage. What meanings do gaps and losses create, and how can we approach collections and preservation amidst contexts of protest, war, and revolution?