HERITAGE/ Heritage in Peril

As Europe’s 500 million citizens think of vacations, their choices are open to ever wider horizons and ever new cultural heritage treasures yet to be discovered. Or not? Europe’s rich cultural heritage, both built and natural, is under constant threat from short-sighted development where economic expansion or fast money can conspire to erase those monuments and sites which together give a city, town or rural area its distinct identity and local colour. Europa Nostra, the voice of...

Nothing sums up the futility of the Cyprus conflict quite like the ghost town of Varosha in Famagusta. Located on the east coast of Cyprus, the city of Famagusta has had a long and remarkable cultural heritage but now lies abandoned following the 1974 Turkish invasion of the island. Varosha can truly be called a Ghost Town. Nobody lives there. Few, if any visit it and if you could, then its ghosts would be ever apparent in the silence, the stillness and the ‘frozen in time’ sights b...

Lamu is the largest town on Lamu Island, which is in turn part of the Lamu archipelago in Kenya. It is also the headquarters of Lamu town. It is one of the oldest and best preserved living settlements among the Swahili towns on the East African coast, with origins dating back to the 12th century AD. Its buildings display the long history and development of Swahili technology. The Lamu District is an incredibly diverse and rich area. The six indigenous communities of Lamu are reported to have be...

It feels like it’s almost every week we’re reporting on a heritage site somewhere in the world coming under threat from land developers or big industry. Taxila, in the Punjab province of Pakistan – which contains fragile ruins dating back as far as 2,600 years – is the latest, and the reason is almost laughable: local plants digging and blasting for gravel, of all things. Seriously, were the prize a precious resource like oil or gas you could almost understand. But surely...