The Central Historical Archive of the Islamic Community of Kosovo burning, after it was set on fire by Serbian police on June 13, 1999, just before the arrival of NATO forces. Photo: © Oleg Popov / Reuters-Archive Photos, used by permission.
Monuments in Peril Series - Killing Memory: Cultural Heritage under Fire in the Balkan Wars of the 1990s
October 15, 2009
7:00 pm
The Balkan wars at the end of the twentieth century caused the deaths of 150,000 people and the forced dislocation of millions more, targeted for persecution because of their cultural and religious identity. The violence against human beings was accompanied by systematic attacks on their heritage—hundreds of historic mosques, churches and other architectural monuments destroyed, libraries and archives burned. A European Parliament report (1993) termed it "a cultural catastrophe in the heart of Europe." András Riedlmayer, bibliographer in Islamic Art and Architecture at Harvard's Fine Arts Library, has spent the past fifteen years documenting attacks on cultural heritage in the wars in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo. He has testified about his findings as an expert witness before the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and has written and lectured widely on the subject. In his presentation at the Clark, he will speak about his work in the Balkans and about the growing recognition of the links between the protection of cultural heritage and human rights.
Whether from the ravages of time or war, the pressures of development and change, or simple neglect, iconic monuments around the world face an uncertain future. In the Monuments in Peril Series, the Clark examines the world's most important monuments and the struggles they face.
