Historic sites – News, Research and Analysis – The Conversation

Firefighters work to put out a blaze at St. Anne’s Anglican Church in Toronto’s west end on June 9, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

June 26, 2024

The St. Anne’s Church fire in Toronto serves as a cautionary tale to preserve our cultural heritage

Jack L. Rozdilsky, York University, Canada

A fire that destroyed St. Anne’s Church in Toronto serves as a reminder that cultural legacy needs to be conserved and protected from disaster.

The Salford Cinema was first built as a church then converted into a cinema before being turned back into a church. Simon Dack/Alamy

May 15, 2024

Gurdwaras, mosques, temples and churches: how faith groups are reviving England’s old cinemas

Kate Jordan, University of Westminster

Cinema buildings provide exactly what many faith groups need: space for congregants to take part in communal ritual and worship.

Even if we achieve our global commitment to limit temperature increase to less than 2 C this century, climate change will continue to impact the culturally significant Rideau Canal Skateway. (Shutterstock)

March 16, 2023

The Rideau Canal Skateway: How can we promote resilience in the face of a changing climate?

Shawn Kenny, Carleton University

Erratic weather patterns occurring due to climate change may become a more significant factor affecting the season start and ice-building processes in the future.

A view of the bow of the Endurance. Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust/National Geographic

March 29, 2022

Now Shackleton’s Endurance has been found, who determines what happens to the famous shipwreck?

Rebecca Hingley, University of Tasmania

Earlier this month, one of the most famous shipwrecks in history was discovered in a part of Antarctica claimed by multiple nations.

Fort Drummond at Mount Saint Thomas, NSW. Alexander Lee

December 31, 2020

Left to ruin: we must preserve our forgotten wartime defences

Alexander Mitchell Lee, Australian National University

Some of our coastal defences are in desperate need of preservation and could be transformed into tourist attractions.

Threatening cultural sites like Persepolis could tarnish US’ reputation as pillar of the international community. DeAgostini/Getty Images

January 10, 2020

Trump’s Twitter threat to destroy Iran’s cultural sites is a historic mistake

David J. Wasserstein, Vanderbilt University

If the US makes good on the president’s threat, Iran’s heritage won’t be the only thing damaged. Washington’s reputation would also take a hit.

Jermone Bias and Cheyney McKnight portraying enslaved cooks at Belle Grove Plantation in Middletown, Virginia, a National Park Service property. National Park Service

December 13, 2019

Memo from a historian: White ladies cooking in plantation museums are a denial of history

Kelley Fanto Deetz, Randolph College

At historic sites across the South, you’ll often find a white woman, dressed in Colonial clothes, cooking in a big house kitchen. That’s a role that was usually done by enslaved Africans.

Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, built by Anasazi c. 1200. The Antiquities Act was passed to protect such sites from looters. National Park Service

June 7, 2016

How the Antiquities Act has expanded the national park system and fueled struggles over land protection

John Freemuth, Boise State University

The 1906 Antiquities Act gives presidents unilateral power to protect land as national monuments. The law has saved important places, but has also fueled intense conflicts over land control.

Entrance to the gate of Nimrod, destroyed by the IS group and digitally reconstructed as part of Project Mosul. Model by ruimx from photos at projectmosul.org

January 26, 2016

Preservationists race to capture cultural monuments with 3D images

Herbert Maschner, University of South Florida

Researchers are making 3D scans, architectural plans and detailed photographic records of cultural heritage sites around the world, knowing they could be destroyed at any time.

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