from The Art Newspaper
Parthenon fragment returned to Greece
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A recent development in Germany in the quest for the return of the Parthenon marbles to Greece. This may (or may not) have an effect on the majority of the marbles still lodged at the British Museum. See earlier posts here and here.

from The Guardian
Extreme weather 'blighting buildings and beauty spots'
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One more unexpected use of documentation mentioned earlier of architectural heritage and sites - tracking of deterioration due to weather effects as part of the larger mapping of global climate change.

from The Times
Rocked to our foundations
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from The Washington Post
What Was and Never Shall Be
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from The Guardian
Tomb raiders
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As we approach the thrid anniversary of the recent war, it is timely to be reminded of the fragility of our collective cultural heritage in the face of unbridled aggression. If the destruction of tangible cultural hertiage is a war crime - albeit a minor one at that - then the evidence in Iraq was plenty enough (see here and here). Earlier reports of looting and lax security in the aftermath of the invasion also cast a pall over the claims of "freedom" and "liberation" - however noble-sounding that might be.

from Guradian
The death of handwriting
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An interesting thought - what if penmanship, or calligraphy, was to go the way of endangered intangible heritage? Then, again, maybe not ...

Yesterday.sg
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There is a recently re-launched weblog initiated by the National Heritage Board for all things related to cultural heritage and history of Singapore. (Apologies for the delay in picking this up and many thanks to the Singapore Heritage group for "leaking" this earlier here and here.)

With the revamp, the focus has shifted to a more inclusive perspective on other heritage related posts written by non-NHB staff - all in all, a welcomed transformation from its earlier incarnation as Heritage SG. This can only be a positive step forward. Well-deserved kudos to all involved!

from The Washington Times
Art as a chemistry project
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A brief and cursory look at scientific research at the Conservation Department of the National Art Gallery in Washington, DC. An interesting estimate mentioned in the article, quoting Ross Merrill, the chief of conservation:

"Someone once asked how long it took to analyze a painting, and the answer was about three times as long as it took the artist to do it."

No wonder we suffer from a lack of such interesting research in today's fast-paced world! Also, towards the end of the article, there is a mention of the use of glass in Venetian paintings reported earlier.

from themediaslut
Life in Singapore under Japanese Occupation
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A weblog post, with images, on the opening of the newest addition to the family of museums in Singapore - Memories at old Ford Factory. [ thanks to Ai Lin on the Singapore Heritage mailing list]

Additional information can be found on the National Archives of Singapore web-site and press-release [PDF format].

from DER SPIEGEL
Indonesia Investigates German Archeologist for Fraud
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I guess I wrote too soon. [ News article by way of Dr. Geoff Wade on the Singapore Heritage mailing list ]

Passing the 300-posts mark!

Logging into the Blogger web-site, which serves as the front end for updating this web-log, I noticed that a total of 300 posts have been reached! This makes an average of about 2.5 days for 1 post to appear. Not very even distribution all the time, but there you go ...

Happy reading!

from World Heritage Forum
World Heritage Sites in Google Earth
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go to UNESCO web-page
download Google map [ free Google Earth required ]

One can now take a virtual tour of the various World Heritage Sites across the globe. Wouldn't it be nice if there is a similar map for Singapore's own national monuments, heritage sites, urban conservation areas and historical architecture?

Tags : UNESCO, World Heritage Sites, Google Earth, cultural heritage, Singapore

from Getty Conservation Institute
Newsletter 20.3 (Fall 2005)
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The latest issue of the GCI newsletter focuses on the various aspects and considerations when documenting large-scale monuments and historic sites. In the lead article, it was discussed that the role of documentation primarily fulfils 3 functions:

(1) recording and collating of available information;
(2) as a reference for conservation and preservation decisions; and
(3) for advocacy and communication.

It would be interesting to apply these considerations to the usual documentation that is done on a much smaller scale (but not any less complex, sometimes) for museum artefacts.

from Guardian
Titanic salvage firm loses bid to own artefacts
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This news from elsewhere which might (or might not) have implications for something similar right here on Singapore's doorsteps (see links here and here).

NHB Heritage Journal (Vol. 2, 2005)
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From the most recent issue of the NHB Heritage Journal:

Articles

Films as Social History - P. Ramlee's "Seniman Bujang Lapok" and Malays in Singapore (1950s-60s)
Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied
Abstract / PDF

"Fragments of the Past": Political Prints of Post-war Singapore
Lim Cheng Tju
Abstract / PDF

Notes and reviews

Iberians in Singapore-Melaka Area and Adjacent Regions, by Peter Borschberg
Reviewed by Yong Huei Sim
Abstract / PDF

Framing History: Displaying the Singapore Family through Photography
Jason Toh
Abstract / PDF