« AGIR-HIFAZ in Iraq »,  A New Cooperation  Project in the Field of Higher Eduction (The Conservation of Built Heritage)

AGIR-HIFAZ is an interdisciplinary training program which aims to strengthen the educational capacity of Iraqi teaching staff in the field of heritage conservation. It is a transfer of knowledge and skills between teachers / researchers / professionals and two groups of young Iraqi teachers. or confirmed students registered in archaeology, architecture or history, from the University of Mosul and the University of Salahaddin-Erbil.

The seminars focus on the concepts and fundamental historical knowledge which are compulsory for a correct diagnosis prior to any intervention of restoration or preventive conservation. They also discuss research methodologies on specific types of building materials, case studies and assessment methods for archaeology, architecture and history. Finally, they aim to improve the method and practices of the conservation of the built heritage thanks to a new academic and professional specialization : in archeology for the management of heritage sites, in architecture for the restoration of buildings, or in history for the expertise.

Partnerships

French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Institut national du Patrimoine, University of Mosul,  Salahaddin University- Erbil

Contents and  context

As part of the AGIR-HIFAZ program and with the help of the National Heritage Institute, Ifpo, Salahaddin-Erbil University and the University of Mosul are currently launching an academic cooperation project in Iraq in the field of the conservation of built heritage, hence its name (“Hifaz” means “conservation” in Arabic).

After several years of joint reflections and preparatory seminars between the partners, this new project is supported by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs within the framework of the FSPI (Solidarity Fund for Innovative Projects) n° 2020-89 with the aim of “training in the service of the preservation and enhancement of heritage in the Middle East – AGIR”.

Iraq’s built heritage has been brutalised by decades of conflict, political crises and neglect culminating in the recent destructions wrought on archaeological and religious sites by the Islamic State Organisation, especially the North of Iraq. Now in a post-crisis recovery stage, Iraq sees the multiplication of projects – many supported by international donors,– to address the rehabilitation and conservation of historic monuments and sites. This developing sector is expected to create job opportunities in the years to come.

Yet, despite the growing labour market demand, there is a dire shortage of highly specialised Iraqi expertise in built heritage conservation. This stems from  decades of authoritarian rule, conflict and international sanctions which have caused the mass emigration of built heritage professionals and academics, in their majority trained in Europe before the 1990s. All this has entailed the isolation of the higher education and cultural heritage sectors from international advances in the field of conservation. Therefore, Iraq until today remains dependent on international expertise.

Scientific Comittee :

Géraldine Chatelard, historian and anthropologist, Ifpo research associate

Barbara Couturaud, archaeologist, Head of Ifpo branch in Erbil

Caecilia Pieri, urban and heritage historian, Ifpo research associate, pedagogical coordinator of the project

Dominique Pieri, director of the  Department of Archaeology, Ifpo

Yasmine Abdulkarim, Dean of the  Faculty of Archeology, University of Mosul

Omar Muwafaq Mahmood, Dean of the  Faculty of Engineering, University of Mosul

Aziz Zebari, director of the  Department of Archaeology, University Salahaddin-Erbil

Salahaddin Baper,  director of the  Department of Engineering, University Salahaddin-Erbil

 

Organising Committee

Barbara Couturaud, Ifpo

Christophe Dessoude,  Ifpo

Caecilia Pieri, Ifpo

Dominique Pieri, Ifpo

Mohammed Zuhair Zaydan, assistant professor, Head of Carré Francophone, University of Mosul

Salahaddin University -Erbil : Salahaddin Baper, director of the  Department of Architecture, University of Mosul

Electronic Resources & Coordination

Raphael Banc-Lévêque, Ifpo

Program

The program AGIR-HIFAZ in Iraq (May 2022- February 2023)  aims to achieve a Training of Trainers (ToT). It is  innovating by being  insterdisciplinary and by bringing together learners who are usually separated, i.e. archaeologists, architects and historians. In each university, the seminars will be given by highly qualified and experienced by academics/ teachers/professionals in the field of built heritage.

It also adopts a gender-sensitive approach promoting participation of a fair number of women at all stages and in all activities, and takes an inclusive approach to diversity .

The contents are multidisciplinary and intends to tackle the notion of built heritage in  holistic approach :

• by familiarizing the audience with  the “culture of diagnosis” where multiple parameters come into play: identification of the criteria specific to each type of heritage ; technical components, but also historical, cultural, administrative ones ;
• by raising or improving awareness of the challenges linked to conservation and restoration, and by tackling the issues of adaptive reuse and sustainability of interventions.

 

The seminars focus on theoretical themes involving numerous examples through a comparative approach , but also on research methodologies about specific types of building materials, on various case studies – in Iraq or elsewhere -, on evaluation methods for archeology and architectural analysis of buildings (monitoring, documentation, museography, digital resources).

• Introduction to the theories of conservation and restoration (architecture and cities)
• Introduction to the history of architecture and cities (from the Antiquity to the modern period, focusing on the MENA region)
• Introduction to the principles of conservation and valorization of UNESCO World Heritage monuments and sites, including the issue of national/international policies
• Introduction to the principles of adaptive reuse and sustainable practices
• Approach and choice of materials /pathologies ad risks /preventive conservation / restoration and consolidation for stone and earthen architectures
• Introduction to documentation  techniques: organization, conservation, communication
• Digital tools, 3D survey, photogrammetry

Two sessions will be on line (Spring and Autumn) ; two will be on the field, security and sanitary situation permitting, in September 2022 and February 2023.

 

Spring session (May-June  2022)

 

1. Jean Brunet, director of SMBR (stone cutter specialized in historical registered buildings), graduated with professional degrees in stonemasonry and general stone crafts. He has spent his whole career in the field of restoration of historical monuments. He now manages conservation, restoration and enhancement projects on historic sites, as well as the supervision and training of the local workforce. He was in charge of construction sites, among which the Temple of Zeus in Jerash, Jordan (2004-2010). He has lead development or conservation projects for excavation sites (Chapel of Obodas-Petra, Qasr Al-Bint-Petra – Jordan ) and organized training sessions related to heritage restoration at the Al Balqa University of Islamic Art in Salt (Jordan). He has also worked on construction sites such as the arenas of Arles and the Palais des Papes in Avignon, France. Since 2018, with his own company (SMBR), he has supervised the realization of heritage projects, restorations, from the study to the completion of the work, including the human, technical and financial follow-up on works from very different periods: the ancient theater of Alba La Romaine, the Villa Serena (19th century) and the Palais Carnoles (18th century) in Menton, the Villa Ephrussi in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat (early 20th century) or the Pont de la Riviere de l’Est in Reunion (1894). He is also an expert with UNESCO for missions in the Middle East, the last being a study of the royal facades of Petra (October 2021).
2. Xavier Casanovas is a chartered architect and engineer, but also graduated in archaeology. He is the President of the RehabiMed Association and member of the Executive Board of ICOMOS Spain. He teaches rehabilitation at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Barcelona. With more than 45 years of professional experience in architecture, archaeology, rehabilitation and restoration of heritage, he is today an international expert for rehabilitation, restoration and urban regeneration for the European Union, the European Council, UNESCO, UNDP and other cooperation agencies for the development of Mediterranean and European countries. He often participates in international conferences on sustainable restoration and urban regeneration and is the author of numerous reports and publications on the subject. He has led several international projects on cultural heritage for the EU, within the framework of Euromed Heritage (CORPUS, RehabiMed and Montada), and for many international cooperation bodies :  Spanish (AECID), German (GIZ), French (AFD), Belgian ( BTC), British Council (CPF). Since 1975, he has worked in rehabilitation and urban regeneration in many UNESCO World Heritage sites, and in particular: Fez and Marrakech (Morocco); Ghardaïa and Algiers (Algeria); Jeddah (Saudi Arabia); Trinidad and Havana (Cuba); Chinguetti (Mauritania); Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron (Palestine); Aleppo and Damascus (Syria); Bahrain, As Salt (Jordan).
3. Dr. Mazen Haidar is a chartered heritage architect who graduated from the University of Rome- La Sapienza and got a PhD in History of Architecture at Paris I-Panthéon-Sorbonne with the following subject: « Reception and appropriation practices of the modern residential building in Beirut between 1946 and 1990”. He has led several restoration projects in Lebanon and participated from 2019 to 2022 in the management and conservation plan project of Tripoli International Fair by Oscar Niemeyer (UNESCO-Beirut). He has taught at the American University of Beirut (AUB), the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA), ENSA Paris-Belleville and ENSA Paris-Malaquais. His publications focus in particular on the challenges of safeguarding the heritage 20th century architecture in the Arab world. Among his works, Architectural ironwork in Beirut in the 20th century /(Paris: Geuthner Editions, 2021). He is a member of ICOMOS and DOCOMOMO Lebanon.
4. Joe Kallas is a chartered architect specialized in Cultural Heritage, member of ICOMOS Lebanon. He is an expert member of CIPA Heritage Documentation (ISC. ICOMOS/ISPRS) and the coordinator of the CIPA Emerging Professionals working group. He is also a member of the Advisory Committee of OurWorldHeritageglobal initiative. After the blast that hit Beirut on August 4^th 2020, he volunteered to organize and coordinate the 3D documentation and recording of Beirut’s most affected heritage buildings, as part of the volunteering initiative (BBHR2020) led by the Directorate General of Antiquities. He is the project coordinator and manager of the Technical Documentation of Historic Beirut project with ICONEM, funded by the UNESCO Heritage Emergency Fund. He conducted several capacity building trainings on heritage documentation and digitization nationally and internationally. He works as a UNESCO Consultant on multiple heritage-related projects in Lebanon, and is involved in the conservation of several 19^thcentury buildings damaged by the blast.
5. Yasmine Makaroun is a chartered heritage architect who graduated the Institute of Fines Arts at the Lebanese University in Beirut in 1988. Then she followed her studies in France with a master in management of archaeological sites and a Ph.D in archaeology from EPHE at Paris Sorbonne. Since 1992, she worked into archeological excavations and on conservation projects for major world heritage sites in Lebanon and Syria. Her professional practice as heritage expert covers both historical monuments, site management /museums, adaptive reuse and urban heritage. Besides, her academic career started in 1997 at the Faculty of Architecture at the Lebanese University where she directed the Department of Architecture from 2013 to 2015. Her publications are mainly on ancient architectural technics and vernacular architecture conservation in Lebanon. Member of universities jury’s, lecturer at Iccrom-Sharjah, she took part in many conferences and seminars. Academic Member of the Center of Conservation and Restoration since its creation in 1997, she was in charge of the direction of the Center from 2015 to early 2022. Active member of several heritage associations like APSAD, member of the board of Icomos-Lebanon and acting as President since June 2021, she is part of the funding committee of BBHR 2020 initiative after Beirut Blast 2020.
6. Dr. Maria Grazia Masetti-Rouault is an archaeologist, professor at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes – Paris Sciences & Lettres Research University in Paris, Chair of « Religion of the Syrian-Mesopotamian World: History and Archaeology ». She is a member of CNRS research team UMR 8167 « Orient et Méditerranée », and co-director of the Series Etudes Mésopotamiennes-Mesopotamian Studies (Oxford, Archaeopress). During 1997 and 2010 she has directed the Syro-French archaeological mission in Terqa Region (Lower Middle Euphrates valley, Syria), and the excavations in the site of Tell Masaïkh. Co-Director of the French archaeological mission at Qasr Shemamok (Erbil region, Kurdistan, Iraq) since 2011, in 2015 she became its director.
7. Dr Karel Novacek holds a MA in archaeology (Charles University in Prague, 1992), and a Ph.D. in the history of architecture and art (Czech Technical University, Prague, 2006). Currently a full-time professor (assoc. prof.) at Palacký University,  Olomouc. He specialized in medieval archaeology, particularly in the built environment, religion, landscape, urbanism, and social archaeology. His ongoing research projects are mainly  in Iraqi Kurdistan (since 2006), Northern Iraq and the Czech Republic. Among his pûblications : (with Miroslav Melčák) : Mosul after Islamic State: The Quest for Lost Architectural Heritage Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.
8. Chamsia Sadozai is an archaeologist, with a specialized degree in earthen architecture (Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Grenoble-ENSAG). She is Research Associate with CRAterre-Grenoble, en association research unit in Architecture, Environment and Constructive Cultures. She has been involved for over ten years in the association’s scientific activities : on-site expertises, peparation of sites files, development of awareness tools for archaeologists and architects and documentary research. She is an earthen architecture expert in the study and conservation of several World Heritage sites, notably in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates.
9. Dr. Jean Yasmine is a chartered heritage architect, specialized in conservation of historic sites and monuments. He holds a Phd in archeology of Paris I-Panthéon Sorbonne. He works as Consultant or Project Manager of many cultural heritage projects since 1999. He has been the site manager for the valorisation of the Beaufort Castle, South Lebanon. He is in charge since 2003 of the archaeological component of the Cultural Heritage and Urban Development (CHUD). He is consultant for UNESCO Beirut office. He teaches architecture and architectural conservation at the Lebanese University. He is member of ICOMOS Lebanon executive board.

1. Jeanine Abdul Massih earned her PhD from Paris I-Sorbonne on Town Planning and Classical Architecture (her doctoral thesis on the Gypsum Plaster and Stone Construction at the site of Dura-Europos, Syria). She is a Professor of Archaeology at the Lebanese University, specializes in classical period: architecture and technologies, conservation of immovable heritage and site management. Her works as member of ICOMOS Lebanon and ICOMOS International has focuses on the protection of sites in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. She directed the project on the Megalithic Quarries of Baalbek (Lebanon), the archaeological investigations on the city of Batroun (Lebanon) and the mission of Cyrrhus Nebi Houri (northern Syria). She is associated researcher at CNRS-Nanterre and Correspondent of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut – Berlin.
2. Narmen Muhamad Amen Ali, archaeologist, is a researcher at UMR 8167 Orient et Méditerranée CNRS – Paris, associated with Ifpo-Erbil, and professor in the Department of Archaeology at Salahaddin University-Erbil. Member of the scientific committee of the association Mesopotamia Heritage, she is a specialist of Christian built heritage in Kurdistan (first centuries of our era). She holds a PhD in History and Archaeology and a DEA in socio-cultural history, both from the University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin.  She has participated in numerous conferences and exhibitions, including Christians of the East, 2000 years of history at the IMA (2016) and directed or co-directed several excavations in Iraq (Bazyan, Kurdistan, Adad, Southern Iraq). Finally she is the author of numerous publications in The journal of Canadian Society for Syriac studies, Cahier d’Études Syriaques, Mesopotamian Studies, Her doctorate on Christian heritage in Iraqi Kurdistan was published in Arabic in Beirut, The French version is in preparation.
3. Jean Brunet, director of SMBR (stone cutter specialized in historical registered buildings), graduated with professional degrees in stonemasonry and general stone crafts. He has spent his whole career in the field of restoration of historical monuments. He now manages conservation, restoration and enhancement projects on historic sites, as well as the supervision and training of the local workforce. He was in charge of construction sites, among which the Temple of Zeus in Jerash, Jordan (2004-2010). He has lead development or conservation projects for excavation sites (Chapel of Obodas-Petra, Qasr Al-Bint-Petra – Jordan ) and organized training sessions related to heritage restoration at the Al Balqa University of Islamic Art in Salt (Jordan). He has also worked on construction sites such as the arenas of Arles and the Palais des Papes in Avignon, France. Since 2018, with his own company (SMBR), he has supervised the realization of heritage projects, restorations, from the study to the completion of the work, including the human, technical and financial follow-up on works from very different periods: the ancient theater of Alba La Romaine, the Villa Serena (19th century) and the Palais Carnoles (18th century) in Menton, the Villa Ephrussi in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat (early 20th century) or the Pont de la Riviere de l’Est in Reunion (1894). He is also an expert with UNESCO for missions in the Middle East, the last being a study of the royal facades of Petra (October 2021).
4. Xavier Casanovas is a chartered architect and engineer, but also graduated in archaeology. He is the President of the RehabiMed Association and member of the Executive Board of ICOMOS Spain. He teaches rehabilitation at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Barcelona. With more than 45 years of professional experience in architecture, archaeology, rehabilitation and restoration of heritage, he is today an international expert for rehabilitation, restoration and urban regeneration for the European Union, the European Council, UNESCO, UNDP and other cooperation agencies for the development of Mediterranean and European countries. He often participates in international conferences on sustainable restoration and urban regeneration and is the author of numerous reports and publications on the subject. He has led several international projects on cultural heritage for the EU, within the framework of Euromed Heritage (CORPUS, RehabiMed and Montada), and for many international cooperation bodies :  Spanish (AECID), German (GIZ), French (AFD), Belgian ( BTC), British Council (CPF). Since 1975, he has worked in rehabilitation and urban regeneration in many UNESCO World Heritage sites, and in particular: Fez and Marrakech (Morocco); Ghardaïa and Algiers (Algeria); Jeddah (Saudi Arabia); Trinidad and Havana (Cuba); Chinguetti (Mauritania); Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron (Palestine); Aleppo and Damascus (Syria); Bahrain, As Salt (Jordan).
5. Dr Géraldine Chatelard is a published researcher and international cooperation professional with extensive experience in cultural heritage management across the Middle East. With a PhD in History and Civilization from the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris and degrees in Arabic and English, she was a research fellow with the French Institute for the Near East (Ifpo) in Jordan and is currently an associate researcher with Ifpo’s Iraq branch. She also worked as Culture Programme Specialist with UNESCO Iraq Office. Having consulted for international organisations and Arab governments on several World Heritage nomination dossiers and management plans for cultural and mixed properties, she is also a recognised expert on intangible cultural heritage. She is currently in charge of international cooperation with the Middle East at the National Library of France in Paris.
6. Raffi Gergian est architecte-restaurateur, archéologue, conservateur. Titulaire de deux E.S. en architecture, et en archéologie, ainsi que d’un Master en restauration des monuments historiques et des sites (Université Libanaise), et enfin d’un Master en Art et archéologie de l’Université Saint-Joseph, suivi d’un Doctorat en  Sciences religieuses Ph.D. Spécialisé dans le relevé et l’analyse archéologique des bâtiments, il est actuellement directeur régional des sites archéologiques de la region Bekka-Sud au Liban, conservateur du patrimoine pour le site d’ Anjar and responsable de fouilles à Beyrouth, au sein du ministère de la Culture- Direction Générale des Antiquités au Liban, et enseignant d’histoire de l’architecture à l’Université Libanaise. Il est l’auteur de nombreuses publications sur l’architecture et l’art  religieux ainsi que sur les échanges intercommunautaires au Liban. Il est membre de plusieurs organisations internationales tells que l’ICOM et travaille notamment sur la conservation des mosaïques, et plus largement du patrimoine culturel.
7. Dr. Mazen Haidar is a chartered heritage architect who graduated from the University of Rome- La Sapienza and got a PhD in History of Architecture at Paris I-Panthéon-Sorbonne with the following subject: « Reception and appropriation practices of the modern residential building in Beirut between 1946 and 1990”. He has led several restoration projects in Lebanon and participated from 2019 to 2022 in the management and conservation plan project of Tripoli International Fair by Oscar Niemeyer (UNESCO-Beirut). He has taught at the American University of Beirut (AUB), the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA), ENSA Paris-Belleville and ENSA Paris-Malaquais. His publications focus in particular on the challenges of safeguarding the heritage 20th century architecture in the Arab world. Among his works, Architectural ironwork in Beirut in the 20th century /(Paris: Geuthner Editions, 2021). He is a member of ICOMOS and DOCOMOMO Lebanon.
8. Joe Kallas is a chartered architect specialized in Cultural Heritage, member of ICOMOS Lebanon. He is an expert member of CIPA Heritage Documentation (ISC. ICOMOS/ISPRS) and the coordinator of the CIPA Emerging Professionals working group. He is also a member of the Advisory Committee of OurWorldHeritageglobal initiative. After the blast that hit Beirut on August 4^th 2020, he volunteered to organize and coordinate the 3D documentation and recording of Beirut’s most affected heritage buildings, as part of the volunteering initiative (BBHR2020) led by the Directorate General of Antiquities. He is the project coordinator and manager of the Technical Documentation of Historic Beirut project with ICONEM, funded by the UNESCO Heritage Emergency Fund. He conducted several capacity building trainings on heritage documentation and digitization nationally and internationally. He works as a UNESCO Consultant on multiple heritage-related projects in Lebanon, and is involved in the conservation of several 19^thcentury buildings damaged by the blast.
9. Micheline Kurdy is an architect and archeologist specialized in digital technologies for archaeology and cultural heritage who graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of Damascus University, and then got her Master and her PhD in Marseilles. She specialized in the application of digital tools in archaeological studies in Marseilles CNRS MAP Gamsau laboratory with a doctoral thesis in archeology by treating the subject of the contributions of digital techniques in archeology. Since 2008, Ishe has been part of the French archaeological mission of Saint-Simeon (North Syria) and she works on 3D surveys, architectural analysis and virtual restitution on the whole site. Her research focuses on the architectural analysis and 3D representation of restitution hypotheses,  especially on various sites in the Middle-East (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraqi Kurdistan).
10. Yasmine Makaroun is a chartered heritage architect who graduated the Institute of Fines Arts at the Lebanese University in Beirut in 1988. Then she followed her studies in France with a master in management of archaeological sites and a Ph.D in archaeology from EPHE at Paris Sorbonne. Since 1992, she worked into archeological excavations and on conservation projects for major world heritage sites in Lebanon and Syria. Her professional practice as heritage expert covers both historical monuments, site management /museums, adaptive reuse and urban heritage. Besides, her academic career started in 1997 at the Faculty of Architecture at the Lebanese University where she directed the Department of Architecture from 2013 to 2015. Her publications are mainly on ancient architectural technics and vernacular architecture conservation in Lebanon. Member of universities jury’s, lecturer at Iccrom-Sharjah, she took part in many conferences and seminars. Academic Member of the Center of Conservation and Restoration since its creation in 1997, she was in charge of the direction of the Center from 2015 to early 2022. Active member of several heritage associations like APSAD, member of the board of Icomos-Lebanon and acting as President since June 2021, she is part of the funding committee of BBHR 2020 initiative after Beirut Blast 2020.
11. Dr. Maria Grazia Masetti-Rouault is an archaeologist, professor at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes – Paris Sciences & Lettres Research University in Paris, Chair of « Religion of the Syrian-Mesopotamian World: History and Archaeology ». She is a member of CNRS research team UMR 8167 « Orient et Méditerranée », and co-director of the Series Etudes Mésopotamiennes-Mesopotamian Studies (Oxford, Archaeopress). During 1997 and 2010 she has directed the Syro-French archaeological mission in Terqa Region (Lower Middle Euphrates valley, Syria), and the excavations in the site of Tell Masaïkh. Co-Director of the French archaeological mission at Qasr Shemamok (Erbil region, Kurdistan, Iraq) since 2011, in 2015 she became its director.
12. Paolo Monesi est architecte de formation et enseigne à l’Université La Sapienza de Rome, au Laboratoire de muséographie spécialisé dans l’étude et la restauration des monuments historiques, mais il a également donné des cours sur le design dans les monuments historiques. Il a travaillé comme architecte sur de nombreux chantiers à l’étranger, notamment en Chine (Pékin, Canton, Shanghaï, Hong Kong), en Corée du Sud et au Québec. Titulaire de bourses de recherche (Bowkunde Restauratie, Institut Polytechnique de Delft en Hollande;  Montréal, Canada), il  a dirigé de nombreuses expositions sur les thèmes  du projet et de la documentation notamment pour le ministère italien de la Culture. Principales publications: Museografia- temi e metodi dell’allestimento museale. Nuovi strumenti, n° 3:  Bulian, De Camillis, Monesi, Pala. (dir), 2018 . “La segnaletica integrata e il design degli arredi”, in Bulian, Monesi, Pala, Sulis (dir.), Centro di  Ricerche informatiche beni culturali, 2001.  “Dal restauro al museo: esperienze progettuali integrate”, Centro di ricerche informatiche dei beni culturali, x 2000, n. 1 Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa.
13. Dr Karel Novacek holds a MA in archaeology (Charles University in Prague, 1992), and a Ph.D. in the history of architecture and art (Czech Technical University, Prague, 2006). Currently a full-time professor (assoc. prof.) at Palacký University,  Olomouc. He specialized in medieval archaeology, particularly in the built environment, religion, landscape, urbanism, and social archaeology. His ongoing research projects are mainly  in Iraqi Kurdistan (since 2006), Northern Iraq and the Czech Republic. Among his pûblications : (with Miroslav Melčák) : Mosul after Islamic State: The Quest for Lost Architectural Heritage Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.
14. Dr Caecilia Pieri is Associate Researcher at Ifpo, where she was formerly Head of the Urban Observatory, Beirut (2011-2015). She holds a PhD from EHESS Paris, on the urban modernization of Baghdad, where she has been conducting fieldwork since 2003. An expert at UNESCO for the modern built heritage in the Arab World, she has led the research programme Ifpo « Heritage at War in the Mediterranean region » (2015-2017) and is currently the coordinator of the programme AGIR-HIFAZ IRAQ. She has taught history of modern architecture as Visiting Professor at ALBA Beirut (Lebanon, 2016-2022). Main publications : Baghdad Arts Déco, AUC Press, 2011 (Arabic version Al-Mada/IFI 2009). The Le Corbusier Gymnasium in Baghdad, (with M. Marefat and G. Ragot), 2014 (French, English and Arabic editions) ;   Bagdad, la construction d’une capitale moderne, 1914-1960, 2015. On Baghdad’s Tishreen revolt murals, 2019, in Manazir Journal, 4: https://doi.org/10.36950/manazir.2022.4.8
15. Chamsia Sadozai is an archaeologist, with a specialized degree in earthen architecture (Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Grenoble-ENSAG). She is Research Associate with CRAterre-Grenoble, en association research unit in Architecture, Environment and Constructive Cultures. She has been involved for over ten years in the association’s scientific activities : on-site expertises, peparation of sites files, development of awareness tools for archaeologists and architects and documentary research. She is an earthen architecture expert in the study and conservation of several World Heritage sites, notably in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates.
16. Dr. Jean Yasmine is a chartered heritage architect, specialized in conservation of historic sites and monuments. He holds a Phd in archeology of Paris I-Panthéon Sorbonne. He works as Consultant or Project Manager of many cultural heritage projects since 1999. He has been the site manager for the valorisation of the Beaufort Castle, South Lebanon. He is in charge since 2003 of the archaeological component of the Cultural Heritage and Urban Development (CHUD). He is consultant for UNESCO Beirut office. He teaches architecture and architectural conservation at the Lebanese University. He is member of ICOMOS Lebanon executive board.