At today’s International Affairs lecture the College had the opportunity of hearing two distinguished speakers on the subject of “The Destruction of Memory in the Nineveh Plain between Archaeology and Geopolitics”.
Daniele Morandi Bonacossi teaches Archaeology of the Ancient Near East at the University of Udine and has directed excavation and archaeological survey campaigns in Syria, Oman, Yemen and Iraq while Ambassador Luca Giansanti, worked with the Italian Foreign Service from 1984 until 2018, serving twice in Tehran (as ambassador on the second occasion) and at the Ministry for Foreign Affaris as Director General for Politcal Affairs and Security.
Together, they provided us with a very through overview of the acient history and the more recent geopolitical developments in Northern Iraq, in the region where the ancient city of Nineveh once flourished and which, in recent times, was initially occupied by Daesh and then liberated. In doing so they offered us great insights into how the deliberate destruction of the artistic heritage of ethnic and religious minorities is sadly instrumental in the pursuit of their annihilation and how, therefore, endeavors to restore and protect the cultural heritage need to go hand in hand with the provision of humanitarian aid.
