“A declaration of war against civilization.” This is how Mehdi Jamalinejad, the governor of Isfahan, described the Israeli and American attacks on the cultural heritage in that city earlier this month. “An enemy without culture pays no attention to cultural symbols,” Jamalinejad declared. “A country without history has no respect for historical traces. A country without identity does not value identity.”
Bijan Rouhani, an archaeological researcher at the University of Oxford, born in the Iranian capital Tehran, does not want to agree with that characterization. “Of course the Americans also have a culture,” he says during a video call about cultural heritage in Iran. “If you put ordinary citizens from America and Iran at the table, they will probably have a lot to discuss. The question is whether politicians from these civilizations and cultures will ever understand each other.”
Rouhani, 50, arrived at Oxford in 2009 after obtaining his PhD from the University of Rome in History and Protection of Architectural Heritage. He is also chairman of the board of the Cultural Emergency Response, an Amsterdam-based non-profit organization that helps local authorities worldwide protect cultural heritage. Rouhani says that his family still lives in Iran: “They are difficult to reach, but fortunately they are safe. We have short telephone conversations about very everyday things.”
UNESCO, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, has designated 29 sites in Iran as cultural heritage and immediately warned on March 2 – after the famous Golestan Palace in Tehran was damaged – of the danger the 29 other sites faced. UNESCO had communicated the geographical coordinates of the sites designated as heritage to the ‘interested parties’. According to Iran’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage, 120 sites have been damaged since the war began on February 28, but not all of them can be verified.
Blue and white shields at the Chehel Sotoun Palace in Isfahan, intended as a warning that this is a World Heritage site.
Photo Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images
How reliable are the Iranian ministry’s figures?
“It is not possible to give an exact figure, because there has been an internet blockade in Iran since the start of the war. Due to limited satellite use in the Middle East, few images are getting through. It is almost impossible to contact experts in the field of cultural heritage in Iran. My colleagues at the University of Chicago recently launched an interactive map of damaged locations. They come up with seventy places, which have been verified through open source research. In reality, it is probably a much higher number.”
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By means of NRC verified video of a bombing of Khorammabad, near the Falak-ol-Aflak Citadel.
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Is there evidence that Israel and the US are deliberately destroying Iranian cultural heritage?
“That is also difficult to verify, because to say that something was intentional, you have to conduct an investigation on the spot. But in at least one case, Israeli military officials confirmed that they deliberately targeted a building: the parliament building by architect Heydar Ghiai in Tehran, which was built in 1955. A statement about this action was posted on X with a satellite photo attached.”
The 1954 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict makes a legal distinction between intentional and non-intentional destruction. Is that something Israel and the US can hide behind after the war?
“If cultural heritage is deliberately destroyed, you can speak of a war crime. This is laid down in the Hague Convention, but even more emphatically in the humanitarian law of war of the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. But even if it was not intentional, countries that destroy cultural heritage do not go unpunished. By signing those treaties, they promise to handle cultural heritage with care in time of war.”
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently dismissed the destruction of cultural heritage as ‘stupid rules of conduct’.
“Well, what can I say to that? It’s a choice: do you respect international law or do you think that only power counts? I don’t want to go into the political background of this conflict, but after the Second World War, countries agreed on rules. Citizens, hospitals, but also cultural heritage must be protected in times of war. Whether it concerns religious or artistic locations, buildings or artifacts.”
Can you protect cultural heritage if countries that have signed the treaty do not take this protection seriously?
“That is a problem of international law. Countries sign treaties and agreements, but there is no international body that enforces it. It is the law of the strongest. Countries withdraw if they no longer like a treaty. Not only treaties about cultural heritage, but also about climate, for example. The framework from which we are currently working is not sufficient.”
The bazaar in Tehran is hit on March 2
Photo Iranian Red Cross/ ANP
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The Grand Bazaar in Tehran before it was damaged
Getty images
US President Trump indicated regime change in Iran, but in the meantime the heritage of the Iranian people is being destroyed. Can that be reconciled?
“That has also happened in previous wars. Take Iraq in 2003: that’s when regime change also accompanied by the destruction of cultural heritage. Baghdad’s National Museum was looted during the occupation due to a lack of protection by the US military. Even Babylon was partially destroyed. The US military set up military encampments at ancient sites. A lot of heritage is destroyed especially during regime change.”
Is destruction of heritage an effective weapon in wars?
“Cultural heritage symbolizes the identity of a country and a people. It can be used by the enemy as propaganda. Look at how ISIS operated in Syria and Iraq. Through international media attention, they carefully orchestrated the destruction of cultural heritage in those countries in order to recruit new members. And what about the Taliban? Before the Taliban destroyed the Buddhist shrine of Bamiyan in Afghanistan with explosives, that militant movement was not considered an Afghan interlocutor. But after the announcement of that intention if the Taliban suddenly came to the negotiating table. That fact was then used for a new narrative: the Afghans are suffering from the sanctions of the West, which is only concerned about stones and buildings.”
When the Taliban and ISIS destroyed world heritage, it was characterized as ‘a crime against humanity’. Is that happening now too?
“The question is: to whom does heritage belong and who reports on it? In Syria, for example, Western media mainly reported on the destruction of classical archaeology, such as Palmyra, which was destroyed by ISIS. But many Islamic sites were also destroyed. Classical archeology received the attention of international or Western media because it concerned Roman and Greco-Roman cities, cities with a connection to Western civilization. That story was therefore easier to sell. If a local mosque or Islamic cemetery is targeted, then there is less attention there. I do not expect this to be any different with regard to Iran. The destruction there will not be characterized as ‘barbaric’, because there is one party that says they are bringing freedom and democracy, that this war is being waged out of good will see collateral damage, which was insurmountable. The price that comes with this war.”
In the recently published book Reporting Heritage Destruction are you critical of the way in which journalists report on the destruction of cultural heritage? They are not always aware of the consequences of their publications, you write, and the fact that they can be used by militant groups or regimes.
“Reporting on the destruction of cultural heritage can be tricky. It is important to make it public, as long as other aspects of a war, such as human suffering, are not overlooked. You have to keep the balance, and that is a tightrope walk for journalists.”
It Golestan Palace is one of the oldest monuments in the Iranian capital Tehran. It is believed to have been built in the 16th century under the regime of Shah Tahmasp I. The palace only really took shape when the Qajar dynasty (1796 – 1925) made Tehran its capital. The walled Golestan Palace became the seat of government and the center of Qajari art and architecture. The palace is best known for its enormous hall of mirrors and its gardens (Golestan means ‘flower garden’). Reza Pahlavi (1926) and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1967) were crowned here. The palace also featured in images of Iranian money in the 1970s.
Photo Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images
It Golestan Palace was one of the first locations hit. Based on video images and statements, this palace was not hit directly, but by a rocket attack on nearby Arg Square. In any case, this has shattered the hall of mirrors. The historic windows are also gone. According to the Iranian government, Israel is responsible for the damage to this palace. On Thursday, the Sa’dabad Palace was added to the list of damaged buildings. This palace, in the north of Iran, was also used by the Qajar dynasty.
Photo Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images, Anadolu via Getty Images
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