Heritage at War combines familiarisation briefings and a practical wargame in order to explore the theme of cultural heritage protection from a military perspective, by assessing how culture can be weaponised and exploited within a fictional setting.
Heritage at War is both timely and significant, for the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Preliminary Special Report on Protecting Cultural Heritage in Conflict recently recognised that "despite enjoying protection under international law, cultural heritage finds itself increasingly under attack in conflicts across the world…[and that] malicious authoritarian States and non-state actors actively seek to weaponize it to pursue their pernicious goals".
While it is a reality that armed conflict may result in the destruction of cultural heritage, Heritage at War demonstrates that adequate preparation is required before conflict to mitigate loss. This final point lends itself directly to Article 3 of the Hague Convention where Parties (to the Convention) are to “prepare in time of peace for the safeguarding of cultural property…against the foreseeable effects of an armed conflict”.
