Hell Hath No Fury: How the Looting of the Iraq Museum Changed the Way Archaeologists Think About Armed Conflict
Where: The Parthenon
When: 7 p.m. Tue., Feb. 22
Free; reservations required
As if the death and destruction of the 2003 invasion of Iraq weren’t horrible enough, the looting of the National Museum was like salt in the wound. Dozens of priceless historical artifacts, some more than 5,000 years old, were stolen or damaged in the mayhem.
Corine Wegener, an associate curator for the Decorative Arts, Textiles and Sculpture collection at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, was deployed to Baghdad in May 2003 as an army reservist, where she assisted in recovery efforts after the looting. In 2006, she founded the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield, dedicated to the protection of cultural property worldwide during armed conflict. (The organization is currently working in Haiti to protect property after the earthquake.)
At this Parthenon Symposium, Wegener will discuss her experiences in Iraq, developing cultural preservation training for the U.S. military, and lobbying for U.S. ratification of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. We assume the symposium has been in the works for a while, but given recent developments in Egypt, it couldn’t be timelier. Admission is free, but reservations are required; call 862-8431.
