ICOMOS: Cultural Property Protection & the Military Perspective: UK, FR & NL, 8 sept. 19.30h Livecast

Two women walk past the huge cavity where one of the ancient Buddhas of Bamiyan, known to locals as the "Father Buddha," used to stand, June 17, 2012. The monumental statues were built in A.D. 507 and 554 and were the largest statues of standing Buddha on Earth until the Taliban dynamited them in 2001.
Gepubliceerd op: 3 september 2021

Van Palmyra tot Timboektoe zien wij dat de opzettelijke verwoesting van cultureel erfgoed, met het opblazen van de Buddhas van Bamyan uit de 6de eeuw (foto) als slechts een van de dieptepunten, ook ontwrichtende effecten heeft op de samenleving, dichtbij tot ver daarbuiten. The Hague 1953 Convention is leidraad voor bescherming, ook militair. Drie genodigden uit het VK, Frankrijk en Nederland spreken vanuit hun militaire ervaring. 

Cultural Property Protection & Military Perspectives on the Protection of Cultural Heritage: Netherlands, France and the UK

Date: Wednesday 8 September 2021
Time: 19:30-21:15 CET
Speakers: LTC Tim Purbrick, CPT Tim Le Berre, CPT Ankie Petersen

LIVECAST (via ZOOM) RSVP for attendance via button below or by mailing to lezingen@icomos.nl

We kindly invite you to the upcoming lecture and discussion evening on Wednesday September 8th. The topic of this evening will be ‘Cultural Property Protection: Military perspectives on the protection of cultural heritage from

From Palmyra to Timbuktu, we see that the destruction of cultural heritage can have tremendous effects on communities, leaving people disconnected, traumatized and even persecuted. Increasingly, cultural property protection is being recognized and better addressed as a humanitarian issue in its own right.

Perhaps less known is that cultural property protection is an increasingly important issue within the military as well. Various national armies are looking to find methods to incorporate culture and cultural heritage into their practices with the purpose to prevent damage and destruction, both deliberate and collateral. For our upcoming lecture, we have invited speakers from different countries to discuss how the military came to play a role in the protection of cultural heritage in their countries, using examples from practice, and what recent developments in cultural property protection entail. We look forward to discussing this topic with our speakers from the UK, France and the Netherlands: Lieutenant-Colonel Tim Purbrick, Captain Tim Le Berre, and Captain Ankie Petersen.

Cultural Property Protection: Military Perspectives

19:30   Welcome and introduction: Ardjuna Candotti and Daan Lavies
19:35   Ankie Petersen (NL):
19:55   Tim Purbrick (UK):
20:15   Short break
20:25 Tim Le Berre (FR):
20:45   Panel discussion among the speakers + Q&A with audience moderated by Ardjuna Candotti and Daan Lavies
21:15   End

The 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict

The protection of cultural property is enshrined in the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two Protocols of 1954 and 1999. Article 7 (Military measures) refers to the military responsibilities in regard to the protection of cultural property. In many countries, Armies have taken up the challenge of translating this kind of international law into practice, taking into account the protection of heritage as an integral part of sustainable strategies to build peace and security. .

The recent evolution of warfare, and the increased level of threats against cultural property in the past years have resulted in a new urgency and challenges for the implementation of legal and operational military measures within the Armed Forces. This ICOMOS lecture evening will provide some insights into the practice of cultural property protection from an international military perspective, and will engage with the audience in the discussion on what can and should be done to prevent the loss of cultural heritage during armed conflict and other crises.

About the lectures:

As the first speaker of the evening, Captain Ankie Petersen will provide some broader background to cultural property protection (CPP) as enshrined in the Hague Convention and its protocols. She will also talk about the establishment and evolution of CPP in the Dutch Armed Forces in the Netherlands since 1953 and its current state and challenges.

Lt Col Tim Purbrick will talk about the re-establishment of a cultural property protection (CPP) in the British Army for the first time since the end of WW2. The talk will cover background to CPP issues and the development of the military capability, including policy, geospatial data, education, training and the CPP unit.

Captain Timothee le Berre will provide a French perspective to the development of CPP in a military context, with reference to practical experiences with the recent deployment of two military curators, one in Central African Republic and one in Mali.

Overzicht