Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva

This photograph shows a mosaic pavement (Byzantine period, 579 AD) collected in 1997 from the site of a vanished Byzantine church in Deir-el-Balah in the Gaza Strip, displayed during an exhibition on the protection of cultural property in case of conflict entitled "Heritage in Peril", at the Art and History Museum in Geneva on Oct. 3, 2024.

Archaeological treasures from the Gaza Strip are going on display in Geneva, with the Swiss city protecting the heritage of a territory devastated by a year of war.

Amphoras, statuettes, vases, oil lamps, and figurines are among the 44 objects unearthed in Gaza going on show in the "Patrimony in Peril" exhibition at the Museum of Art and History (MAH).

"It's a part of Gaza's soul. Its identity, even," Béatrice Blandin, the exhibition's curator, told AFP. "Heritage is really the history of this strip of land, the history of the people who live there."

The artifacts are from a collection of more than 530 objects that have been stored in crates in a secure warehouse in Geneva since 2007, unable to return to Gaza.

The exhibition, which runs from Saturday until February 9, also includes artifacts from Sudan, Syria, and Libya.

It was staged to mark the 70th anniversary of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.

The exhibition looks at the responsibility of museums in saving such property from damage, looting, and conflict, reminding visitors that deliberately destroying heritage is a war crime.

 Cultural damage in Gaza 

"The forces of obscurantism understand that cultural property is what is at stake for civilization because they have never stopped wanting to destroy this heritage, as in Mosul,"...