A candlelight vigil will be held on the lawn of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art tonight at 6 p.m. to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the destruction and looting of the Iraq Museum. The event is free to the public.
Saving Antiquities For Everyone and the Archaeological Legacy Institute will host the vigil. The global event will be in coordination with other vigils being held in New York, Boston and San Francisco. There will also be a short video presentation remembering the Iraq heritage lost in the war. Rick Pettigrew and Dominick Vetri will speak at the event.
Debbie Williamson-Smith, a spokeswoman for the museum, said she is pleased that the last-minute decision was made to have the event.
“The event seemed like a perfect fit for our museum and we agree with the mission statement of SAFE, ‘Honor our most valuable resource: Our cultural heritage,’” Williamson-Smith said.
Because the area that is now Iraq has been inhabited for millennia, the thousands of artifacts that were stolen are some of the planet’s oldest, she said.
“The event is to remember the Iraq heritage and everything that’s been lost in the war,” Williamson-Smith said.
– Kate Wallace
Artifacts lost in Iraq museum looting inspire global remembrance
Daily Emerald
April 10, 2007
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