As a result of the widespread destruction of monuments, museums, and archaeological sites in conflict areas, combined with the creation of new international funds to protect heritage in situations of armed conflict or climate change, the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures of the University of Chicago (ISAC) has a prominent role to play thanks to its Chicago Center for Cultural Heritage Preservation directed by Rowe Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology Gil Stein. The Center has proven its efficiency through multiple projects, such as the Aghan Mobile Museum, the preservation of ancient Buddhist art with the Hadda project, and conservation training with the Cultural Training Partnership in Artifact Conservation (CTPAC) supported by the ISAC museum team.
ISAC offers through its faculty affiliates and museum staff a wide range of heritage management experts who focus on West Asia and North Africa. ISAC international collaborations could ideally be promoted in the scope of a biannual partnership with the IIRP, to install an annual conference dedicated to cultural heritage preservation and repatriation. ISAC’s Center for Heritage Preservation (C3HP) and ISAC Museum would be pivotal structures, by reinforcing our cooperation with several European flagship institutions in the field of cultural heritage.