Monuments Men

The recent catalogue of previously unknown Kriegsverluste from the Museum August Kestner, Hannover, has brought to light an inscribed cuboid statue of the Late Period (Dynasty 30 to early Ptolemaic Period). Titles, prosopography, and textual parallels securely connect this object to Thebes, but the high-ranking statue owner was also a priest of Seth of the Southern Oasis (Hibis), the god of chaos who was supposedly demonized and proscribed within the Nile Valley during the Late Period.

The volume “VIOLATED MONUMENTS. War damage and repairs in Italy 1943-1945: the role of the Allies” examines the work done by a special Anglo-American Army Division in the wake of the liberation of the Peninsula from the Nazis between the summer of 1943 and the spring of 1945. The division’s members (known as “Monuments Officers”) were tasked with protecting and repairing Italian monuments hit by the bombs dropped by their own air forces or damaged by the retreating German troops.
Noted Anglo-American architects, museum directors, art historians and archaeologists wore the uniform of their respective armies “to prevent as far as possible destruction of and damage to Italy’s historical monuments, buildings, works of art and historical records; to safeguard and preserve them, and to provide first-aid and repairs when needed”. During the two years it spent in Italy, the division was helped by Italian Superintendents in the hard work of restoring the heavily hit artistic heritage, fighting against time to ensure “first aid and repairs”. This book analyses the job done by the Monuments Officers in the field by exploring in detail their tasks, the effectiveness and limitations of their activities, their relationship with both the Allied military establishment and the Italian authorities, and the budget supplied by the Allied Military Government in Italy.
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Il volume “MONUMENTI VIOLATI. Danni bellici e riparazioni in Italia nel 1943-1945: il ruolo degli Alleati” narra del lavoro svolto da una speciale Divisione dell’esercito angloamericano i cui membri, noti come “Ufficiali per i Monumenti” – al seguito delle Armate alleate che dall’estate 1943 alla primavera del 1945 risalirono la Penisola fino alla sua completa liberazione dal giogo nazifascista – ebbero il compito di portare soccorso ai monumenti italiani devastati dalle bombe del loro stesso esercito e dalla furia delle truppe tedesche in ritirata.
Noti architetti, direttori di musei, storici dell’arte e archeologi anglosassoni – indossata la divisa dei rispettivi eserciti – con l’obiettivo di «prevenire distruzioni e danni a monumenti e opere d’arte d’Italia, salvaguardarli e conservarli, e fornire quando necessario pronto soccorso nelle riparazioni», nei due anni di permanenza in Italia affiancarono i soprintendenti nella difficile opera di rinascita di un patrimonio artistico pesantemente colpito, lottando contro il tempo per garantire gli interventi di “first aid and repairs”. Il volume analizza a questo proposito il lavoro svolto sul campo dagli Ufficiali per i Monumenti, ponendosi l’obiettivo di spiegare quali fossero le mansioni assunte dai suoi membri, i limiti e l’efficacia della loro azione, i rapporti con le gerarchie militari alleate e le autorità italiane, i progetti di messa in sicurezza dei monumenti effettivamente avviati o realizzati, le somme stanziate.

L'articolo ricostruisce e descrive, con l'ausilio di documentazione per lo più inedita, le attività e le operazioni svolte nel territorio dei Colli Albani dai cosiddetti "Monuments Men", ovvero gli ufficiali angloamericani che durante l'ultimo conflitto mondiale, lavorando in seno alla Sottocommissione alleata per i monumenti, le belle arti e gli archivi (Subcommission for Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives, o MFAA), erano incaricati di salvaguardare il patrimonio storico, artistico e culturale nelle zone di guerra.
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"Protecting Cultural Heritage in Wartime: The 'Monuments Men' Operating in the Alban Hills. Events and Documents (1943-1948)"
Drawing mainly on previously-unpublished documents, this article describes the activities and operations carried out in the Alban Hills (near Rome, Italy) by the so-called "Monuments Men," namely British and American officers who during World War II served in the Allied Subcommission for Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives (MFAA) and were charged with protecting and preserving works of historical, artistic and cultural value located in war zones.

Il capitano Deane Keller, della Sottocommissione ai Monumenti, Belle Arti e Archivi (MFAA) del Governo Militare Alleato, fu il primo "Monuments Man" a mettere piede ai Castelli Romani il 3 giugno 1944 (Velletri era stata liberata il giorno prima). In questo articolo viene raccontata la breve storia dei suoi sopralluoghi nei vari centri dei Castelli, attingendo direttamente dai rapporti ufficiali che redasse in quei giorni. Detta documentazione d'archivio viene presentata qui per la prima volta.

Il volume raccoglie gli esiti della ricerca PRIN finanziata dal Ministero dell’Università e della ricerca scientifica “Danni bellici e restauro. Opere di difesa, pratiche d’intervento edilizio e urbano nel secondo dopoguerra” che ha visto il contributo di docenti universitari e studiosi in collaborazione tra le Facoltà di Architettura e Società (Politecnico di Milano), Facoltà di Architettura (Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”), Facoltà di Ingegneria (Università degli Studi di Brescia), Facoltà di Architettura (Politecnico di Torino), Facoltà di Architettura (Università Iuav di Venezia).
In oltre cinquanta saggi sono affrontate le questioni relative all’impostazione teorica in tema di restauro architettonico alla data del conflitto e la loro evoluzione a fronte delle vicende belliche e dell’entità dei danni, sulla scorta della disamina della pubblicistica di settore (in particolare mediante un capillare spoglio dei contributi apparsi su riviste e periodici) non mancando di approfondire le ricadute imposte dalla complessiva politica economica adottata nella ricostruzione postbellica.
Sono descritti, grazie ai materiali emersi dalle ricerche d’archivio, in gran parte inediti, gli interventi preventivi di difesa antiaerea, i danni, gli interventi di messa in sicurezza, di restauro e di ricostruzione di importanti monumenti di città quali Milano, Brescia, Torino, Vicenza, Verona, Treviso, Napoli, Bari (solo per citare le principali) gettando nuova luce sull’attività delle istituzioni preposte alla tutela, degli enti locali, delle commissioni alleate, dei professionisti e delle imprese, anche sotto il profilo delle soluzione tecniche e delle modalità operative.
Un ricco apparato bibliografico ed uno spoglio dei principali contributi apparsi sui periodici corredano il testo, che, si ritiene, si qualifica come un importante punto di arrivo delle conoscenze in materia.

KEY-WORDS: Second World War, Monuments, Reconstruction, Historical Cities, Italy, MFAA

Emma Cunliffe recently completed her PhD at Durham University using satellite imagery to examine threats to archaeological sites in Syria in peacetime. She researches the effects of the conflict on Syria's cultural heritage sites, where she volunteered with the Global Heritage Fund to produce the report "Damage to the Soul: Syria's Cultural Heritage in Conflict", and also volunteered as a member of the UK Committee of the Blue Shield, due to launch officially later this year, and for the NGO Heritage for Peace. ultural heritage is intrinsically linked to conflict: hundreds of thousands of buildings, manuscripts and objects have perished this way -burned in fires, melted down for scrap or simply lost. For thousands of years it was the right of the victor to loot the defeated. The Colosseum in Rome, for example, was built using the spoils from the sack of the Temple of Jerusalem in AD 70[1]. Fortunes across Europe were founded on the looting which occurred during wars such as the Crusades. However, as the Renaissance spread across Europe, it brought with it new ideas about the intellectual and scientific interest of objects. Many Enlightened gentlemen amassed large private collections of art and 'curiosities'. During the 18th century, creation of the major national public museums of Europe began[2]. The British government felt a responsibility to maintain collections "not only for the inspection and entertainment of the learned and the curious, but for the general use and benefit of the public" and so the British Museum was founded. Shortly after, the Louvre opened in Paris, declaring their intention to make the royal collections seized during the revolution available to the public.

In October 2019, the United States (US) Pentagon announced the establishment of a modern “Monuments Men” reserve unit. This newly directed Army Civil Affairs unit, or 38G Program, and their counterparts from the past, the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFAA) unit of World War II, are similar US military units tasked with the protection of cultural heritage in times of armed conflict. However, when considering tangible and intangible heritage, and the ratification of 1954 Hague Convention, key differences are apparent. This study (1) critically analyzes tangible and intangible heritage, and the relationship between the two aspects of cultural heritage, (2) examines tangible and intangible heritage within conflict zones, and (3) asserts intangible heritage as an instrument to be utilized by the Army Civil Affairs 38G Program in the protection of cultural property in armed conflict.

-Marco Pretelli, Annalisa Bristot, Gli esordi in un riformato sistema di tutela -Rossella Fabiani, Irene Spada, a capo della nuova sovrintendenza ai confini orientali -Sara Di Resta, Sovrintendente a Venezia tra anteguerra e guerra -Carlotta Coccoli, I diversi ruoli nel secondo dopoguerra -Ettore Vio, Proto a San Marco

The paper explores the role of the Allied Army during the Second World War, in the preservation of Italian monuments against the risk of war damages.
In 1942, as it became evident that the Allied Armies were preparing to enter in war, various groups of civilians in the United States began to formulate plans by which some measures of protection consistent with military strategy could, in the war areas, be extended to the monuments, works of art, libraries, and records felt as heritage of the entire world. In that year, some representatives of the most prominent American cultural institutions proposed the creation of a governmental commission for the protection and salvage of artistic and historic monuments in Europe (Roberts Commission). Founded by the President Roosevelt on August 1943, the Commission had the main purpose to work with the United States Army for the protection of works of cultural value in countries occupied by armies of the United Nations.
Architects, museum officials and art historians serving in the US Army were attached to the newly formulated program by the War Department called “Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives program”. This program started some weeks after the allied landing of Sicily (July 1943) and received here its initial try-out and gained its first experience. The Monuments Officers worked in close connection with the Italian officials concerned with fine arts and monuments to prevent, as far as possible, damages and destruction of cultural heritage, and well as to provide first-aid in repairs.

During the Second World War, Brescia endured massive damage to its monumental patrimony. In some cases, the historical image of significant buildings were disfigured in an irreversible way. In others, complete reconstruction was considered the best solution to repair damaged buildings. This contribution analyses two of the most significant cases of restoration: that of the “New” Cathedral, and that of the Broletto palace, both damaged during the Allied air raid of 13 July 1944.


Key-words: Brescia, Second Postwar, War damages, Monuments, Restoration
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Análisis del film "Monuments Men" (George Clooney, 2014). Dirigido por nº 441, febrero de 2014, pp. 18–19 [ISSN: 0212-7245]

· Índice del nª 441: https://www.revistasculturales.com/revistas/69/dirigido-por/num/441/
· Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/10115/41201
· Artículo indexado en Google Scholar y en la base de datos de la Fundación Dialnet (Hemeroteca de artículos científicos hispanos de la Universidad de La Rioja).

The author analyzes the role of the American Arts and Monuments Section, established in the summer of 1945 within the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (Scap) in order to protect, preserve and restore “recognized works of cultural, historical or artistic significance”.
As part of the complex program for the protection of cultural heritage in war zones developed by the Allied governments during the Second World War (Monuments, Fine Arts and Archive Program), the activities of the Arts and Monuments Section in Japan can be considered the only Asian case that can be compared to the work done in Europe by the Allied Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Subcommission.

Per ricostruire le vicende delle campane recuperate dalla Missione italiana per il recupero delle opere d'arte in Germania nel 1947, iniziamo dalle descrizioni che se ne danno in L. Banti, G. Castelfranco (a cura di), Catalogo della Mostra delle opere d'arte recuperate in Germania, Villa Farnesina, Roma, 1947: 32. Campana.-Bronzo; peso kg 938. A rilievo, in alto, ornato a drappeggio; in basso, busto di S. Vincenzo e l'iscrizione: «D.O.M. ac D. Vincentio M. dicata aere confraternitatum ac sumptu populi de Verciano aucta a.D. MDCCCXCII». Fonditore: Raffaello Magni, Lucca. Dalla chiesa di S. Vincenzo a Verciano, Lucca.

invita la cittadinanza 24 aprile 2017 Una Serata a Casa Saffi tra storia cultura arte e musica per festeggiare insieme il 72° Anniversario della Liberazione Presso la sede dell'Istituto in via Albicini, 25 -Forlì Ore 23.00. Spettacolo musicale dal vivo con Melodie e ritmi da Casablanca a Calcutta Un laboratorio di musica di insieme condotto da Peppe Frana sulle tradizioni musicali extraeuropee... musicisti in viaggio attraverso repertori popolari e classici, ad esplorare musiche delle corti ottomane e dei territori di antichi imperi, piazze, mercati e taverne... voci, ritmi, melodie lungo le rotte del Mediterraneo e le strade da levante... Ore 24.00. Brindisi per il 25 aprile. Vino, dolci e biscotti Iniziativa promossa da Istituto storico della Resistenza e dell'Età contemporanea di Forlì-Cesena; in collaborazione con ANPI; ARCI; Associazione

Ardelia Ripley Hall (1899–1979) served from 1946 until 1962 as the Fine Arts and Monuments Adviser to the U.S. Department of State. In this role she oversaw the recovery and restitution of movable cultural property that had been displaced during the Second World War. In spite of her vast accomplishments, almost nothing has been written on Ardelia Hall, and little is known about her life. She began her career at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, but personal circumstances led to her resignation in 1941. During the war, she was employed by the Office of Strategic Services. The expertise she established as an art historian working with the Roberts Commission at this time led to her appointment at the State Department in 1946. This essay traces for the first time Hall’s remarkable journey from curatorial researcher to adviser on international art restitution.

Ore 14.30 Per una storia della ricostruzione a Brescia: i documenti dell'Archivio di Stato LEONARDO LEO Archivio di Stato di Brescia Ricostruire il lavoro (1945-1950). Dalle carte dell'Archivio storico della Camera del Lavoro di Brescia LORENA PASQUINI Archivio storico Bigio Savoldi e Livia Bottardi Milani Camera del lavoro di Brescia Il settore primario tra ricostruzione e sviluppo LUCIANO MAFFI Università degli Studi di Brescia Banche, credito e ricostruzione MAURIZIO PEGRARI Università degli Studi di Verona