Preserving Afghan Cultural Heritage featuring Gil J. Stein
Event Details
Afghanistan is home to some of the most important archaeological and artistic treasures in existence, but after 30 years of continuous warfare, its National Museum has lost more than 140,000 objects and nearly all of their object records. In collaboration with the US State Department and the National Museum of Afghanistan, the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago is developing a bilingual Dari-English database and conducting the first-ever complete inventory of the National Museum's collections. Gil J. Stein will discuss Afghanistan's ancient cultures and the efforts to protect the country's heritage.
Stein is director of the Oriental Institute and professor of Near Eastern archaeology at the University of Chicago. He has excavated and surveyed in Arizona, New Mexico, Turkey, and Syria and is starting a new project in Iraqi Kurdistan. He has traveled to Kabul multiple times since 2012 as the principal investigator of the Oriental Institute and National Museum partnership.
To learn more about the Oriental Institute's partnership with the National Museum of Afghanistan, read the OI's annual report [PDF], or a New York Times article on how this joint effort is working to protect Afghanistan's cultural heritage.
$20/person for general admission
$10/person for recent graduates (College alumni of the past ten years and graduate alumni of the past five years)
Two complimentary registrations for members of the Alumni Leadership, Chicago, Harper, and Phoenix Societies
Includes program and refreshments
Program
2:00 PM-2:30 PM: Registration
2:30 PM-3:45 PM: Presentation and discussion
3:45 PM-4:30 PM: Reception