Training Conservation Professionals in the Middle East

Abstract

The Middle East is a culturally, socially and politically complex region. The region has also been in a continuous state of flux for the past two centuries. These changes have often directly affected how the cultural heritage is preserved, what is conserved and by whom. To make generalizations on the state of conservation training across this wide region with notable variations in geography, society, religion and governance woidd be a gross overstatement. However, the intention of this paper is to highlight some of the pressing concerns about the training of competent conservation professionals in the region. Most notably: there is only a small pool of professionals with adequate know-how and experience in building conservation; there is little institutional support for conservation or public understanding of its basic principles; the old is regularly associated with being backward and the new with modernity and progress; there is a loss of craft skills essential for the implementation of conservation projects; and finally cultural heritage is being exclusively conserved and re-interpreted for tourists as the tourism industry becomes a bigger and more wide-spread player in the region. Within this context, the paper evaluates the current training provision in the region and discusses areas where there is an urgent need to build up institutional capacity to be able to provide much needed training opportunities.

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