Heritage Archives - Authentic Futures

Monumental Lies

Robert’s recent book Monumental Lies: Culture Wars and the Truth about the Past is proving a critical success. The book examines the politicisation of the historic environment and reminds us why material evidence matters so much. It has been a book of the year in the Financial Times, the Art Newspaper and elsewhere. Robert is undertaking a…

Eileen Gray

Can a house have a £MeToo moment? Restoring Eileen Gray’s pioneering house

Gobelki Tepe

The world’s oldest temple. Did architecture begin here?

The Meaning of Mali

Heritage and human rights. The Meaning of Mali

British Council

Launching the Cultural Protection Fund.

Palmyra

The Ethics of Reconstruction. Palmyra

Target Heritage

From Mali to Bangladesh and beyond, ideology is making a target of cultural heritage.

Iconoclasm as genocide warning

Attacks on buildings conveying cultural identity can be a warning of incipient ethnic cleansing or genocide.

World Heritage Convention at 40

Is the world heritage convention having a midlife crisis? Published as: World Heritage at 40: success or mess? in THE ART NEWSPAPER Number 240, November 2012

Neues Museum, Berlin

David Chipperfield’s masterpiece used Bevan’s book, The Destruction of Memory as a guide to its critical reconstruction.

Minaretphobia

Racism is behind the fight against building minarets in the West.

The Destruction of Memory

One of the ten best architecture books says The Independent. This analysis of attacks on architecture helped define a new field of study.

9/11 Memorial

High finance and low politics undermines commemoration at Ground Zero.

Common Ground

An essay on Islamophobia and the stand-off between heritage and the avant-garde commissioned for a critical reader accompanying the 2012 Venice Biennale.

Heritage Journalism

Journalism about historic architecture and places and issues relating to material culture, including looting and provenance and human rights, is a consistent element of Robert Bevan’s heritage advocacy.

Cultural Genocide

Why culture should be central to the definition of genocide.

New Orleans

New Orlean’s history and identity are in danger from its misconceived rebuilding programme.