The safety and security of people must always come first in any conflict or crisis. Yet the protection of heritage is inseparable from the protection of communities, and both are the responsibility of a world that shares in this cultural legacy.
Across thousands of years, the artistic and built landscape of Assyria tells a story of human ingenuity and historical fragility. At its height in the seventh century B.C., Assyria stretched from the Zagros Mountains in the east to Cyprus in the west, and from the Caucasus in the north to the Persian Gulf and Egypt in the south.
On the east bank of the Tigris River, Nineveh — today the mounds of Kuyunjik and Nebi Yunus near Mosul — formed the northern point of the Assyrian Triangle, the empire’s heartland, with Assur (modern Qala’at Sherqat) to the south and Arbela (modern Erbil) to the east.
The archaeological remains of Assyria’s capitals, provincial centers and rural hinterland preserve a vast record of imperial life. Its monumental architecture, artistic traditions and written sources document centuries of creativity and innovation that shaped Assyria’s political order and cultural identity.
Today, Assyrian artifacts held in their places of origin and across the diaspora reflect both the enduring global legacy and the vulnerability of this heritage, alongside the displacement and resilience of the people connected to it and their stories.
The sources of that vulnerability have varied across time. From the colonial expeditions of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries — which transported countless objects to museums and private collections in Europe and North America — to the geopolitical upheavals, systematic looting and targeted destruction of the past half-century, and the mounting pressures from climate change and rapid urban growth, Assyrian heritage has repeatedly been placed in harm’s way.
The richness of Assyrian culture stands as testament to the dedication of cultural heritage professionals, local communities and international organizations working to safeguard, document and preserve it.
Even in times of stability, that work is immense. In times of conflict, it can become overwhelming.
Political instability and armed conflict place historical sites and cultural objects at risk in multiple, compounding ways. Direct physical destruction is often the most visible threat, but the conditions created by conflict also enable illegal excavation, looting and the trafficking of antiquities on the global market.
As tensions and uncertainty hang over the broader region, the protection of historical sites and the fight against the illicit trade in cultural property demand renewed global attention — so that what has survived for millennia can endure for generations to come.
Kiersten Neumann (PhD, University of California, Berkeley) is an art historian, archaeologist, curator and educator specializing in ancient West Asia, with a focus on Assyria, Persia, and their connections with Arabia. She is Curator of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Museum, Research Associate at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, and Lecturer in the Department of Art History at the University of Chicago. Co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of the Senses in the Ancient Near East (2022), she specializes in sensory experience, ritualized practice and visual culture, as well as museum practice, collecting histories and cultural heritage preservation.