The Albuquerque Journal reports that monument Superintendent Dennis Vásquez and a supporter of the monument were exploring a section of the monument last week when they found debris, evidence of campfires, motorcycle tracks and graffiti.

The monument has thousands of samples of ancient Pueblo Indian rock art and it's managed jointly by the National Park Service and the city.

The vandalized section is owned and managed by the city.

City crews have started removing litter and debris and restoring sections of downed fence, and Vasquez said the Park Service and the city will work together to remove the graffiti as quickly as possible.

Source: The Associated Press [February 11, 2015]

The Economic Moon

Financial crisis — not a hindrance for scale building of the landscape park Zabil. «The new Moon» becomes the central construction of the project. The construction in the form of a half moon — a symbol of force and energy of the countries of the East — will tell about today's prosperity of the United Arab Emirates.

The New Moon in Dubai

Monument interiors contain 5 floors. Everyone symbolizes one of five postulates of Islam: belief, a pray, mercy, mutual aid and pilgrimage. The design contains in itself a conference hall, cafe, children library and an information desk.

The New Moon Monument

The external part of a building decorated by the Arabian inscriptions represents a steel skeleton with emptiness. Such decision will give the chance to supervise illumination and air temperature on all platforms of the New Moon, will protect an interior from a direct sunlight and will provide free circulation of air streams. Inside there will be a special microclimate which will unload the central systems of safety. The project completely corresponds to ecological building standards. Solar batteries will be built in a building covering, and it considerably will lower energy consumption.

VIA «Rising of the New Moon»

India's white marvel, the Taj Mahal, is slowly turning brownish-yellow because of air pollution, says an Indo-US study which also identifies the pollutants responsible for the effect.

It says Taj is changing colour due to deposition of dust and carbon-containing particles emitted in the burning of fossil fuels, biomass and garbage. The study confirms what has been suspected for long — that Agra's poor air quality is impacting India's most celebrated monument.

The research was conducted by experts from US universities — Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Wisconsin — as well as Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and Archaeological Survey of India. The paper was published in the Environmental Science & Technology journal in December.

The findings can lead to targeted strategies to curb air pollution in and around Agra and more effective ways to cleanse the marble surface of the 366-year-old mausoleum, which remains by far the most visited man-made structure in the country with footfalls of more than 6 million in 2013.

The researchers first analysed air samples at the site for roughly a year using filters and found high concentrations of suspended particles that could potentially discolour Taj's surface.

Clean marble samples were then placed at various points on the monument accessible only to ASI staff. After two months of exposure, the samples were analysed using electron microscope and X-ray spectroscope.

The pollutants deposited on the marble were identified through these investigations. Researchers found 3% of the deposits to be black carbon, around 30% organic carbon (or brown carbon) and most of the rest dust. Black carbon is emitted by vehicles and other machines that burn fossil fuels. Brown carbon is typically released through burning of biomass and garbage, a common practice in the region.

S N Tripathi of IIT Kanpur, one of the authors, said the team then used a novel approach to estimate how these deposited particles would impact light reflecting off the marble surface. "We found that black carbon gives a greyish colour to the surface while the presence of brown carbon and dust results in yellowish-brown hues," he said.

"Results indicate that deposited light absorbing dust and carbonaceous particles are responsible for the surface discolouration of the Taj Mahal," the study concludes.

Since 2008, ASI has been trying to fight the yellowing of the monument by giving it a clay pack treatment using the lime-rich Fuller's earth (Multani mitti) to clean the marble surface. Researchers are now keen on studying the efficacy of this method and finding ways of improving it.

"Now that we know what's causing the yellowing, the focus should now shift to undoing the effect," Tripathi said.

Author: Amit Bhattacharya | Source: The Times of India [January 02, 2015]

Nearly 100,000 people have signed an online petition attacking the idea. Authorities insist the project poses no risk to the monument, said Joaquin Paredes, the creator of the petition. “How can it be that the transfer and installation of courts and bleachers as well as allowing access to thousands of people won’t have any effect on a monument that’s more than 2,000 years old?”

Local groups have also taken aim. Cavex, the umbrella group of neighbours associations in Extremadura, conveyed its “absolute rejection” of the idea in a statement. “It’s a total lack of respect for one of our most emblematic monuments,” the group said. “Mérida has much more appropriate spaces for padel tennis.”

Others have backed the idea, arguing that Mérida is far from pioneering the use of ruins to host large events. As Damián Beneyto, a politician representing regional political parties, pointed out on Twitter: “The bullring in Nimes is a roman coliseum and its conservation hasn’t been compromised.”

Despite the outcry, the People’s party politician who heads Extremadura has held firm to the idea. On Monday, José Antonio Monago told journalists that if there had been any concerns about risk to the monument, city officials would have never allowed the proposal to go forward.

He pointed to Verona, home to one of the world’s largest Roman amphitheatres – which has at times been converted into an ice rink. Mérida itself stages a large theatre festival each year in the amphitheatre, he added. “At one time they put cranes and vehicles in the Roman theatre. Nobody gathered signatures or spoke out.”

Author: Ashifa Kassam | Source: The Guardian [March 27, 2015]

A report reveals how during Winter Solstice celebrations at the site in December last year, chewing gum was stuck onto the ancient monument, graffiti was sprayed on the ancient stones, attempts were made to light fires on them, and lines of oil were dripped on several stones.

Things were much worse during the Summer Solstice in June, when volunteers and staff were "left in tears" and had to clean up vomit and feces. The "appalling stench" and the "urine, vomit and feces" were left around the stones after 37,000 revelers descended on the site to watch the sunrise.

Winter Solstice numbers were much smaller, and amounted to around 1500, though the damage done to the stones was still considerable. A spokesperson of the English Heritage conservation group said of the oil, "It's still there and it's not degrading. This is an additional concern as there is still graffiti on the stones from the summer solstice."

Solstice revelries were banned between 1985 and 2000, when they were finally opened up after a long legal battle by King Arthur Pendragon, a self-professed "pagan leader". Pendragon said pagans were also unhappy about the vandalism. However, he states that the Heritage Journal are calling attention to this because they wish to halt future solstice events. "Heritage Journal have been doing that since they were formed in the first place. Basically they're just a number of archaeologists who don't want 'the great unwashed', as they see it, anywhere near Stonehenge. Obviously, we abhor the vandalism. We always keep an eye out for these sorts of things. From my point of view, as a druid and a pagan priest, it's not on."

Solstice events are marked by various denominations and faiths around the world. However, a spokesperson of the Heritage Journal remarked, "The latest research suggests the stones were designed to allow people to view the summer solstice sunset from outside the circle, not crowded inside it."

Stonehenge, a UNESCO World Heritage Monument, is the remains of a ring of standing stones set within earthworks, built between 3000 BC and 2000 BC.

Author: Sravanth Verma | Source: Digital Journal [March 10, 2015]

The tourists from California, aged 21 and 25, were cited Saturday for carving their first names eight centimeters (three inches) high into an upper level of the Colosseum, said Carabinieri Capt. Lorenzo Iacobone.

The two were freed on their own recognizance but will face charges for aggravated damage to a monument. Their names or hometowns were not released by police.

Iacobone said the young women apologized for the vandalism, but he said such acts "are extremely serious. No one considers the damage they are creating."

"They have carved their names into ancient stone. It is not like writing with a pen, and then afterward it can be cleaned up," he said.

A Russian tourist who carved his initials into the Colosseum in November was handed a four-month suspended sentence and a fine of 20,000 euros ($21,270) after opting for a speedy trial. It was the fifth such act of vandalism by tourists last year, including a Canadian tourist who tried to steal a piece of stone from the Colosseum hidden in his backpack.

Union leaders have complained about the lack of personnel to properly monitor Rome's archaeological treasures — with increasing numbers of visitors seeking to leave their trace on antiquity, causing irreparable damage.

With thousands of tourists visiting the monument each day and many hidden corners, Iacobone said it was impossible to monitor everyone's actions.

Source: Associated Press ]March 09, 2015]

British campaigners likened the UK’s stance to “clinging on to stolen booty for dear life” and contrasted it with the “generous act” of returning the sculptures to help a friendly country on the brink of economic collapse. Youth unemployment has hit 50 per cent and suicide rates have soared amid a crisis so severe the Financial Times has warned Greece could turn into a “quasi slave economy”.

In 2013, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) invited the UK to take part in mediation about the marbles, created 2,500 years ago to decorate the Parthenon temple in Athens. Then last year it asked for a response by 31 March.

However a Government source said the UK “won’t be able to make any significant announcement this side of the [May] election”.

A motion calling for the UK to reply to Unesco and move to return the marbles is to be filed in the House of Commons on Monday.

The failure to respond in time could prompt Greece to abandon decades of diplomacy and take legal action, possibly in the European Court of Human Rights. A team of lawyers in London, including leading QC Geoffrey Robertson and Amal Clooney, wife of actor George, is preparing a “book-length” document setting out the options.

A source who has advised successive Greek governments said the main problem was finding a court to take jurisdiction in the case, but once that hurdle was overcome “then the lawyers are saying there is about a 75 to 80 per cent chance of success”.

The marbles are regarded as some of the finest works of art in history and a symbol of the birth of Western civilisation. Some sculptures were taken to Britain by Lord Elgin in controversial circumstances just over 200 years ago when Greece was ruled by the Ottoman Empire.

Dr Elena Korka, director of antiquities at the Greek Culture Ministry, said the central issue was “reunifying these exceptional, outstanding and most important sculptures, which belong as an integral part of a unique symbolic monument for the whole world”.

“This is the essence of it, making something which exists today as whole as it can be… this is what the public wants, every poll shows it. It’s such an important issue. Even if Greece didn’t ask for it, the whole world would,” she said.

She said if the British authorities relented it would be “a day of true joy, not only for the monument itself but I think for the value of the gesture for the sake of co-operation”. “It would definitely help the [public] morale. It would be a huge boost,” she said.

Asked about the prospect of legal action, Dr Korka said Greece was “still so much into the process of mediation that we’re not thinking of the next step”. “We haven’t exhausted the possibilities so let’s not go so fast,” she said.

She added that the UK’s silence since 2013 was “not so polite really”.

David Hill, chairman of the International Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures in Australia, said there was a “growing appreciation even among people who are timid about the prospect of litigation that we have reached the point of last resort if this UNESCO gambit fails. The diplomatic and political strategies of the last 30 years have not produced any progress at all.”

Polls have consistently showed strong support in Britain for returning the marbles. In November, a survey for The Times found there was a two-to-one majority in favour.

Andrew George, chairman of Marbles Reunited and Liberal Democrat MP for St Ives, said: “One of our friends is down on their uppers and we can offer something to them that might make their lives easier and give them a lift, which can only be good for their economy.

“It would be a generous act which would improve Britain’s standing in the world. At the moment we look rather grubby… like we are clinging on to stolen booty for dear life.”

He said he planned to lodge an early day motion in the Commons tomorrow calling for  the Government to “demonstrate that Britain is prepared to... reunite these British-held Parthenon sculptures with those now displayed in the purpose-built Acropolis Museum in the shadow of the monument to which they belong, the Parthenon in Athens”.

The British Museum, which denies Elgin stole the marbles, argues that it “tells the story of cultural achievement throughout the world” and the Parthenon sculptures are “a significant part of that story”. It regards itself as “a unique resource for the world” with visitors able to “re-examine cultural identities and explore the complex network of interconnected human cultures” within its walls.

“The Parthenon Sculptures are a vital element in this interconnected world collection. They are a part of the world’s shared heritage and transcend political boundaries,” it says.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said it would “respond in due course” to UNESCO.

Author: Ian Johnston | Source: Indpendent [March 07, 2015]

In the tiny village of Dmanisi, a 1.8 million year-old human skull was recently discovered to the amazement of scientists. Nearby, a team of archaeologists from the National Museum of Georgia and the German Mining Museum (DBM) unearthed Bronze Era caves.

But the area is also rich in minerals. One site, known as Sakdrisi, is even believed to be home to a 5,000-year-old gold mine. The area was part of a concession of land the Georgian government allotted for the exploration of minerals in 1994.

In 2006, Georgia's Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection added the ancient gold mine site to its list of protected cultural monuments. The archaeological significance of the region had been a source of pride to the company that had the initial rights to mine the area. But that's now due to change. The Russian-owned company RMG bought the lease in 2012, and now plans to mine for gold.

The power of gold

RMG believes that rich gold deposits are directly under the ancient gold mine site and petitioned strongly for the government to lift Sakdrisi's protected status.

The Georgian Ministry of Culture formed a commission to study the site's status in May 2013. After one month of investigations, the commission ruled that no grounds exist to justify the protected status. In July 2013, the Ministry of Culture revoked its protected cultural heritage status.

The commission also held that the previous Georgian government had granted the protected status illegally, although they say they cannot find the 2006 documents that granted Sakdrisi permanent protection.

Thomas Stöllner, from DBM, challenged the commission's scientific qualifications though, requesting in an open letter that a new international committee be set up to test the site's archaeological signficance. So far the request has fallen on deaf ears.

Conflicts of interest

Gold exports are big business in Georgia. Sales of the precious metal overseas totalled 25.7 million euros ($35.5 million) in 2013, nearly 3 percent of the country's total export earnings.

RMG Commercial Director Solomon Tsabadze, a former Georgian Environment Ministry official, says the mining company provides 85 percent of the local budget through licensing fees and is the largest single employer in the region.

But civil society groups suspect collusion between the mining company and the government. Back in 1994 a Ministry of Environment official, Zurab Kutelia, issued the original mining permit for Sakdrisi. Today, he is the chairperson RMG's supervisory board and a company shareholder. On the other hand, other former mining company directors have become government officials too.

For Marine Mizandari, Georgia's former Deputy Minister of Culture, the ministry's decision to remove Sakdrisi from its list of protected sites is a serious setback.

"Why are we called the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia, if we don't protect our monuments of culture?" she said to DW, adding that she believes she was dismissed from her post in the culture ministry for reasons related to Sakdrisi.

Citizens stand up

Mizandari is now at the forefront of the Public Committee to Save Sakdrisi, a coalition of civil society groups and students demanding that the Culture Ministry appoint a non-partisan group of international experts to re-evaluate Sakdrisi.

But her protest work is not yet getting results. At a recent meeting with university students on the issue, Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili reiterated the commission's controversial findings, saying there was no proof gold had ever been mined in Sakdrisi. He stressed that RMG has already invested heavily in the Georgian economy and that protecting Sakdrisi would jeopardize the jobs of 3,000 people.

RMG has now been given the green light to begin excavating, and activists and students have organized protests against the Culture Ministry's decision in Tbilisi and near the mine site. One of their chief complaints is their exclusion from the decision-making process.

"You can stop anybody on the street and every Georgian will tell you they are proud of their history and culture," said Avtandil Ioseliani, representing Unanimity, a local NGO coalition. "I don't know what the Culture Ministry is doing, but they are not answering the questions society has."

Although Sakdrisi has lost its cultural heritage protected status, it is still an archaeological site, which prevents RMG from destroying it completely. The Culture Ministry has announced that it will appoint an independent group of archaeological experts to monitor the mining work done.

But mining opponents fail to see the logic in the policy, since the mining process requires blasting and the destruction of the ancient tunnels, they say.

Nikoloz Antidze, from the National Agency for Cultural Heritage and Preservation of Georgia, recalls how archaeological sites were ruined when BP laid an oil pipeline across the country in last 10 years.

"State interests often override archaeological interests all over the world, not just in Georgia," he told DW.

Source: Deutsche Welle [December 17, 2014]

The Global Green Project

The project of Park of the World has been initiated by a municipal government of the city of Chungju in honor of that now the Secretary general of the United Nations is the native of this city, Ban Ki-Moon. Having stretched on river Namhangang coast, the project becomes the new city center.

The UN Memorial Hall

The building in the form of an ellipse, the maximum diameter — 60 meters becomes United Nations monument. In a building of 8 floors + a basement floor. In the center — an audience on 1,500 places, and also additional conference halls. From an audience the fine kind on Tangeumdae Natural Park will open.

Rising up a spiral, the building becomes the house for an exhibition in which the history of the United Nations since 1945 till today will speak. The person who is the center of interest of missions of the United Nations, will be integrated into architecture and appearance of "globe". The building will be located in the center of a garden from 192 apple-trees which number is equal to number of the states which are members of the United Nations.

VIA «Park of the United Nations»

Conservationists have reintroduced the gibbons as part of an ambitious project for the "re-wilding" of Angkor Wat, a vast "temple city" that was once surrounded by forests teeming with deer, monkeys, birds and big cats before the arrival of commercial hunters with guns, traps and an appetite for money.

The re-wilding is being led by Nick Marx, a conservationist who believes the project could become a model for other parts of Southeast Asia hit by the trade in endangered wildlife.

Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument on earth, was made a World Heritage Site to protect its sprawling network of temples. Now conservationists want to restore the surrounding forests of Angkor Archaeological Park to their former glory, Marx said.

"The area of forest is beautiful and mature. It's a unique site but it's devoid of wildlife now," he said. "We want to introduce different species that would be appropriate, such as a cross-selection of small carnivores, herbivores, primates and deer, to try to get a build-up of wildlife populations with sufficient genetic diversity."

Cambodia, like many countries in southeast Asia, has suffered from the illegal trade in wildlife. Large numbers of animals have been shot, trapped, butchered and skinned, or sold alive in one of the many Cambodian food markets.

Spiralling demand for traditional Chinese "medicine" has driven the trade to new heights.

"China has done a pretty good job of decimating its own wildlife and now it is moving into other countries," he said. "There is a certain amount of consumption within Cambodia, but most of the valuable items that can bring a high price such as pangolins and cat skins would be going out either to Vietnam or to China," he said. "With the opening of borders and trade, things are getting worse globally. That means we have to work harder to stop it."

Marx is director of a wildlife rescue service funded by Wildlife Alliance, a New York-based non-governmental organisation that specialises in protecting forests and wildlife. He runs Cambodia's Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team which tackles animal trafficking with undercover operations, armed raids on restaurants and markets, and a network of paid informants willing to provide tip-offs on illegal shipments of live animals and body parts.

"We are known throughout Cambodia. We are feared by wildlife traders. It would be foolish to say there is no risk. We're pissing people off and we are rescuing things like cobras, which often have their mouths stitched up and we have to unstitch them," he said.

Why cobras? "They cut their throats to drink their blood with wine and then eat the flesh. People eat everything, from spiders and grasshoppers up."

Many recovered animals are alive and the aim is to return them to the wild if possible.

"Almost everything we confiscate, about 90 per cent of it - provided it is in recent captivity and is fit and healthy, and of an age it can look after itself - is released back into a safe habitat," Marx said. "If they cannot take care of themselves, we look after them at a rescue centre."

Having established Cambodia's official task force to tackle wildlife crime, Marx said it was time to think about reintroducing species to areas where they once thrived such as Angkor Wat. "We were given permission to release animals back into Angkor last year and we released the first pair of pileated gibbons into this forest last December. This has gone really well. The pair had a baby in September. We've taken up another pair of gibbons and a trio of silver langurs, which are a kind of leaf-eating monkey, which we hope to release later."

Author: Steve Connor | Source: Independent via The New Zealand Herald [December 29, 2014]

In an early day motion, Lib Dem MP Andrew George will urge the government to make moves towards "reuniting" them with those in the Acropolis Museum.

The marbles, once part of the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple, but removed by Lord Elgin 200 years ago, are held in the British Museum.

Greece insists they were taken illegally and should be returned.

In his early day motion, Mr George will call for the government to "demonstrate that Britain is prepared to... reunite these British-held Parthenon sculptures with those now displayed in the purpose-built Acropolis Museum in the shadow of the monument to which they belong, the Parthenon in Athens".

Mr George chairs the Marbles Reunited organisation, a campaign group which lobbies for the sculptures to be sent back to Greece.

The group is calling on the UK government to respond to an invitation issued in 2013 by the United Nations cultural agency Unesco concerning mediation over the future of the marbles.

Thomas Bruce, the seventh Earl of Elgin, became British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in 1799.

In 1801, he negotiated with the Ottoman Turks, who then controlled Athens, to remove statues from the Parthenon.

Elgin, an art lover, claimed the sculptures were better off in Britain than the perilous environment he found them in.

Neil Macgregor, director of the British Museum, told the Evening Standard: "Elgin rescued some of the greatest things ever made, so the world can enjoy them."

"The greatest things in the world should be... shared and enjoyed by as many people in as many countries as possible."

When questioned about it in 2013, Prime Minister David Cameron said: "No, I certainly don't believe in 'returnism', as it were. I don't think that is sensible.

"I think the right answer is for the British Museum and other cultural institutions in Britain is to do exactly what they do, which is link up with museums all over the world... to make sure that the things that we have and look after so well are properly shared with people around the world.

In December the British Museum loaned one of the Elgin Marbles for the first time to Russia for a display in St Petersburg's State Hermitage Museum.

The Greek Prime Minister at the time, Antonis Samaras, said the British Museum's decision was "an affront" to the Greek people.

Greece maintains that Lord Elgin removed the marbles illegally between 1801 and 1812, while the country was under Turkish occupation as part of the Ottoman Empire.

The items have remained in the British Museum ever since.

George Clooney's wife, lawyer Amal Clooney, has previously held talks with the Greek government as part of the ongoing campaign to have the sculptures returned from Britain.

Source: BBC News Website [March 09, 2015]

Italian bank Unicredit and the nonprofit foundation CariVerona signed a deal Wednesday with Verona's mayor to restore the Arena at a cost of 14 million euros ($17.5 million).

The project aims to secure the open-air Arena, the third-largest Roman-era amphitheater to survive antiquity, against infiltration from rain, which has damaged the seating areas, and upgrade its stairs and infrastructure like the electrical system.

The deal falls under the government's Art Bonus initiative adopted this year that gives donors a 65 percent tax credit.

With state funding to culture shrinking amid Italy's recession, Verona Mayor Flavio Tosi praised the Art Bonus program, saying that public resources "would never be sufficient to maintain treasures like ours."

The Arena is one of Verona's biggest tourist attractions and the venue for its famed summer opera festival. Some 1.5 million people enter the monument each year.

Tosi said the restoration work is expected take three years.

The mayor has another, more controversial project, in his sights: adding a roof to the 1st -century building. Tosi said he was awaiting approval from the culture ministry to solicit proposals.

Source: The Associated Press [December 19, 2014]

I’m a member of an amazing online bookclub, Pageturners. We formed after Oprah reinstated her book club about 5 years ago. In that time, we’ve grown to be close friends. Together we have experienced the birth of one "Pageturner Baby" and at least 4 "Pageturner Grandbabies". Our members range in age from late twenties to early fifties. We live all over North America—CA, OR, MO, TX, MS, FL, MD, NY, VA and Canada. In the past few years, we’ve tried to arrange an annual Pageturner Convention. The first “official” convention took place in CA, last year was MD, and this year Pageturners hit D.C.!

The convention took place over a long weekend. We visited the Library of Congress and saw Thomas Jefferson’s amazing library. We walked up to the Capitol and then down to view the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, and the White House. Our final full day together was spent in historic Harpers Ferry VA.

Do you belong to a bookclub, online or face to face? Do you plan gatherings like this, or do your book clubs meet just to discuss books?

Caption: Pageturners in front of Capitol Building. From L-R: Vicki (MD), Sherry (MO), Jenn (VA), Tracy (NY), Marie (FL) and Toni (CA)