ALIPH newsletter | number 3, Summer 2020
Port of Beirut after the explosion © 2020, European Union (photographer Bernard Khalil)
ALIPH announces first enveloppe of 5 million USD for stabilization and rehabilitation of Beirut’s damaged cultural heritage Following the explosion of 4 August and the damage it caused to museums, libraries, monuments and historic houses in central Beirut, the ALIPH Foundation Board decided to allocate an initial envelope of 5 million dollars to finance emergency measures to stabilize, protect, or rehabilitate the city’s cultural heritage. The first studies carried out by the Directorate General of Antiquities of Lebanon (DGA), in association with several international institutions (UNESCO, ICCROM, ICOM, ICOMOS, IFLA, the Blue Shield, the French Institute of the Near East, etc.), found that nearly 650 houses or buildings listed as cultural heritage were damaged by the explosion. Several museums were also damaged, including the National Museum, which houses archaeological collections, and the Sursock Museum, devoted to modern and contemporary art, as well as libraries, monuments, and religious buildings. After initiating the “Statement of solidarity with Lebanon and support to recover the damaged cultural heritage in Beirut”, signed by nearly 30 major cultural institutions, ALIPH is now providing concrete assistance by financing measures to stabilize, protect or rehabilitate damaged cultural heritage.
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COVID-19: ALIPH supports over 100 cultural heritage operators in conflict or post-conflict areas ALIPH has committed 2 million USD to support more than 100 operators in conflict or post-conflict areas to weather the COVID-19 pandemic. ALIPH doubled its initial budget to respond to the overwhelming number of requests and needs expressed from the field.
Students visiting the glass museum in Bogotà (c) Museo del Vidrio de Bogotà
The health crisis has brought significant insecurity to the cultural heritage protection sector, forcing the closure of museums and sites, and in some cases, necessitating rehabilitation work to stop. The workers at these sites are essential to the
protection and rehabilitation of the patrimony of countries in conflict or in crisis recovery. Thus, ALIPH is supporting local organizations to meet operating costs, develop sanitary measures, acquire digital tools and skills, launch emergency protection projects, or generate new forms of income. With these grants, the Foundation has directly supported some forty local heritage operators or artisans in around thirty countries, such as the National Museum of Mali, Uganda Museum, Corporación Cultural Museo del Vidrio of Bogotà, and the Directorate of Heritage and Archaeology of Mosul, which has since strengthened the security of some archaeological sites in the Nineveh Plain.
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2019 Annual Report is out! In ALIPH's first 18 months of operation, it has built a trusted network of partners and operators who share the ALIPH spirit of "Action, Action, Action!". Alongside international operators and local cultural institutions and NGOs, ALIPH – through its Foundation Board, Scientific Committee, Secretariat, and other governance bodies – has been working tirelessly to contribute to the safeguarding and rehabilitation of cultural heritage. And the impact of these efforts is already being felt! In the 2019 Annual Report, learn how history and memory are being safeguarded at the Museums of Mosul and Raqqa, how the rehabilitation of the Mar Behnam Monastery has become a symbol of coexistence, or how the Museum of Civilization of Côte d'Ivoire in Abidjan took preventative steps to protect its collection.
"In just a few months, ALIPH has established its ability to respond to critical heritage protection needs with agility, efficiency, and integrity. In doing so, the Foundation has illustrated the value of what I would call 'project multilateralism'; that is, the alliance of determined sovereign State and private actors united around the same objective and driven by the same desire to always put concrete action first". Dr. Thomas S. Kaplan, ALIPH Chairman (Annual Report, p. 5)