A study reveals the impact of Corona on world heritage sites
Supervisors of cultural heritage sites around the world face many difficulties and difficult professional conditions in light of the outbreak of the emerging "Corona" pandemic (Covid-19), which has become like a dark world suffocating millions around the world.
Many archaeological sites of great importance have already begun to be destroyed, along with insurance and security problems and a lack of funding. A study conducted by the monthly "Al-Fan" newspaper on the Internet, concerned with the creative movement and cultural events around the world, revealed that cultural and archaeological sites are not only exposed to the problems of closure. And the layoffs of workers, as well as the acts of looting and plundering, and even collapsing maintenance and restoration work in these cultural and artistic centers around the world.
The study highlighted that some international organizations have formulated action plans to help managers of heritage sites to enable them to deal with the repercussions of the emerging "Corona" virus (Covid-19); Therefore, the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (Aliph), for example, has allocated two million dollars in emergency grants to more than one cultural and art entity in 34 countries.
Among the beneficiaries were agents such as the cultural mission in the city of "Degeni", which is located on the Niger River in Mali, who needed emergency assistance to prevent the restoration of erosion agents due to heavy rains at the "Degeni Djeno" archaeological site, when the epidemic struck Mali spring In the past, all work has ceased at the site, which witnessed a developed pre-Islamic society dating back to 250 BC.
A grant of 11,114 dollars was allocated for salaries and the provision of new health protection to combat the new virus "Corona" for workers and recruits to strengthen the construction of stone barriers and the construction of new dams in the region.
In Sana'a, the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (Aliph) directed to allocate a grant of 14,950 US dollars in favor of providing protection equipment and other forms of support, so that 65 employees of the Yemeni Manuscripts House can return to work to preserve old documents.
Many other grants were directed by the Union to each of Libya to allow remote work for many employees of cultural facilities after they underwent training courses via the Internet in light of the Corona pandemic, in addition to providing $ 10,000 to the Palestinian Museum in the city of Bir Zeit. In the West Bank to update its website, as well as create an e-commerce portal with better links to craft offerings by local artisans.
The International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Zones (Aliph), in coordination with the prestigious French “Louvre Museum” and the “Simchsonian Foundation”, helped arrange digital training for workers in the rehabilitation of the Mosul Museum, which is repeatedly besieged in Iraq, which reopened in Late last November.
Meanwhile, the World Monuments Fund (WMF) has set up a $ 160,000 relief fund to help cover the salaries of people who have been expelled by the epidemic from working in various locations, according to Benedict de Montelauer, president and CEO of WMF. Among them were 41 displaced Kurds in the fortress of "Erbil" in Iraq, where work was suspended from March 11 to May 2 in response to the epidemic.
The repercussions of the emerging "Corona" virus were not limited to workers in cultural and artistic institutions around the world only, but extended to impede some efforts to advance rehabilitation and conservation efforts in Beirut after the port explosion, which struck many neighborhoods last August.
