CHI – UPDATE – The Status of UNESCO World Heritage Site Leptis Magna

Beyond the recent active measures taken by DoA, many factors have contributed to the relative protection of Leptis Magna. The first relates to its geography and the way in which the conflict unfolded during the first stage of the Libyan revolution. Leptis is approximately halfway between Tripoli and Misrata, and as Misratan militias advanced on Tripoli from the east during the summer of 2011, they enjoyed NATO air support. Previous NATO strikes had neutralized or incapacitated pro-Gaddafi forces at the naval base in the nearby city of al Khoms, allowing the rebels to push through the areas surrounding Leptis Magna without any significant resistance. Since that time, Leptis has remained isolated from the heavy fighting that has occurred in suburban Tripoli and Janzur in association with the ongoing civil war. It is also distant enough from the center of al Khoms that the occasional clashes between rival tribes in the area have not affected it.

The second, and more important, factor has been the protective impulse of the local community. During the revolution, concerned citizens from al Khoms banded together to create an informal watchgroup to patrol the ancient city during a time when the site guards had abandoned their posts, fearing anti-government reprisals. By early 2012, the Tourism Police, who are officially responsible for the physical protection of Libya’s archaeological sites and other cultural properties, had resumed their posts. In conjunction with guards employed by the Department of Antiquities, they continue to keep the site open for visitors. The self-appointed guardians and their official counterparts maintain an uneasy relationship, with poorly defined parameters of their joint responsibility, but they are generally able to set aside their differences and continue to protect the site.

The current liquidity crisis has taken a toll, however, leaving the site less protected than it had been before. Given the strict withdrawal limits imposed on all bank accounts, professionals and volunteers alike have largely abandoned their guard posts on-site in order to seek odd jobs that pay in cash and allow them to provide for their families.

The DoA office in Leptis Magna must now rely on a broader civilian network to keep informed about the vast site in their care. Every morning, locals walk through the site on their way to the ancient gymnasium, where the tradition of athletic training remains very much alive. On weekends, families from around Tripolitania converge on Leptis to picnic and enjoy the splendors of the site. Through discussions with these visitors and observations made during their own patrols, DoA staff strive to stay on top of any problems before they become too severe.

The actions of concerned individuals also protected Leptis Magna in previous conflicts. During the Second World War, the city lay in the path of the Axis and Allied armies as they fought across North Africa. Accusations of damage to cultural property, such as the false Italian claim that the British Army had ransacked the Cyrene Museum, were used as propaganda in the struggle for public opinion. In January 1943, the advancing British Army reached Leptis Magna. Sir Mortimer Wheeler, Director of the London Museum and an accomplished archaeologist, witnessed the arrival as an officer in the Royal Artillery. The behavior of the troops shocked him. As recounted in Robert Edsel’s The Monuments Men, Wheeler saw troops climbing on the walls of the ruins, trucks tearing up the ancient roads, and tanks using buildings as cover.

Wheeler’s experience led him and another colleague, John Bryan Ward-Perkins, to start a project that documented damage to the site, made repairs, and posted guards to prevent further harm. Along with Sir Charles Leonard Woolley, excavator of the city of Ur in southern Iraq, the two men also developed conservation plans for Leptis Magna and two other ancient cities in Libya.

Many of the issues important at that time are still relevant today. Libyans struggle to preserve their cultural identity and cultural memory in the face of violence and economic hardship. DoA staff have identified a number of priority conservation projects around Leptis Magna, and seek international assistance in carrying out these projects before the site decays further.

The current Controller of Antiquities of Leptis Magna, Ezzadine ash Sharif, has identified a series of conservation priorities around the site and is working to mobilize his conservation team with the limited resources available. A top priority is to shore up the foundation of one of the largest intact Roman walls on site, portions of which have collapsed in recent years. This work is projected to require a relatively modest budget of around 10,000 USD, but given the liquidity crisis that prevails in the country, such resources are hard to come by.

However, other aspects of the current conflict are new. The increasing power of non-state actors, the intentional destruction of cultural property for ideological and propagandistic purposes, and the involvement of organized crime in the exploitation of cultural property in conflict zones require new approaches. Collaboration between international organizations and local stakeholders remains the best way to ensure the long-term preservation of world heritage.

Leptis Magna has escaped major damage thus far, but it remains vulnerable. ASOR CHI seeks to raise awareness of threatened heritage before damage occurs as well as document it afterwards. In the coming months, we will be publishing more stories on the condition of Libyan cultural properties and the ongoing activities to preserve it.