Online

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Heritage and Recovery: A Decade of Learning from the Gorkha Earthquake

The Victoria & Albert Museum’s Culture in Crisis Programme in partnership with the University of Sterling and Social Science Baha, staged a major international conference from 2 to 4 April 2025, in Kathmandu, Nepal.

2025 marks ten years since the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake(s) struck Nepal, killing nearly 9,000 people, and causing catastrophic damage to lives and livelihoods, as well as physical, social, and cultural infrastructure. The incident deeply impacted heritage across the country; from internationally recognised monuments and heritage sites to community and religious heritage buildings and landscapes, objects and museums, and the myriad cultural practices that enrich the lives of Nepal’s inhabitants. In the aftermath of the Earthquake, heritage has emerged as a key sector for post-disaster recovery, not only because of its role in Nepal’s economy, but also as a central aspect of collective memory, national and local identity, and social and psychological well-being.

As Nepal commemorates ten years since the Earthquake, entering what is officially referred to as ‘long-term recovery', it is time to reflect on the many forms of recovery and reconstruction processes that have taken place.

Courtesy of Mohamed Abusal Event

Culture in Crisis: Gaza

This in-person event staged in April 2025 at the V&A South Kensington brought together Palestinian artists, cultural organisers and activists to discuss the impact of conflict on the Gazan arts and culture sector. The speakers discussed what has been lost in terms of Gaza’s art infrastructure, explored the ways Palestinian cultural practitioners are salvaging what remains, imagined liberation beyond the status quo and spoke about the future of their work in this space.

Small Image Chehel Burj Yakawlang District Bamyan Province Image Courtesy of Andy Miller Copy Event

Afghanistan: Breathing Life into Heritage in a Fragile State

This in-person event, which took place at the V&A South Kensington in February 2025, brought together two cultural professionals who have been working in Afghanistan for over seventeen years to discuss their work, engagement with local communities across the country, and the role heritage protection can play as an integral part of peacebuilding and reconciliation processes.

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Global Challenges and Opportunities for Cultural Heritage - The 2025 World Monuments Fund Watch

This in-person event at the V&A South Kensington, convened by the museum’s Culture in Crisis Programme in partnership with World Monuments Fund Britain in January 2025, drew together speakers to discuss emergent risks to heritage and the announcement of the 2025 Watch. From the British Isles to North and Sub-Saharan Africa, they explored case studies from Watch lists old and new, exploring successes, challenges and some of the changes seen over the past decades – and look ahead to a new cycle of work about to begin.

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Destruction by Design: The Legacies of Damage to Cultural Heritage (2024)

On 20 September 2024, The Victoria and Albert Museum’s Culture in Crisis Programme, in partnership with University of Stirling and V&A Dundee, staged this international conference at V&A Dundee, Scotland. The conference critically examined politically motivated, intentional damage and destruction of cultural heritage. Such acts become part of the ongoing biographies of heritage objects, monuments and places, creating difficult and contentious dilemmas about their future lives for those involved in caring for them. The conference provided an important forum for comparing historical and contemporary examples and reflecting on the consequences of different conservation, restoration and documentation policies and practices, with a view to shaping future directions.
The full event programme can be found here: https://sway.cloud.microsoft/LXuVVfVWXvgo52bm?ref=Link