Haiti: The Landmarks must also be saved

Haiti’s devastating earthquake of 12 January last did not spare the nation’s museums.  UNESCO takes urgent security measures: the collections are at considerable risk of looting.  With these treasures, the nation stands to lose irreplaceable assets of its moral capital.

As a next step, an evaluation mission will ascertain the extent of the damage incurred and define a series of actions to be taken in view of restoring this heritage.

In due time, UNESCO will engage, in liaison with INTERPOL, WTO, ICOM, ICOMOS, ICBS, and with help from specialized units of French and Italian police, in the search for illicitly displaced artworks and objects.

Museums are not just repositories of valuable objects. The role they play in the formation of cultures, as agents of education and elevation, is essential to the identity of our societies.  In times of grief, their value as benchmarks is all the greater.

To protect them, to get them back to working order, to use them as signposts to a better future is to make a significant difference in the process of national recovery.

• The situation of Haitian Museums as at 21 January 2010 (Source ICOM)

• 26-01-2010