In Beleaguered Babylon, Doing Battle Against Time, Water and Modern Civilization
The ancient city of Babylon is a World Heritage Site, but it faces threats old and new. As some of its walls crumble, preservationists are fighting to preserve the past.
A replica of the Ishtar Gate built in the 1950s, when Iraq first started developing the remains of Babylon as a tourist site.Credit.Abdullah Dhiaa Al-deen for The New York Times
By Jane Arraf
Feb. 6, 2021
BABYLON, Iraq Ammar al-Taee, an Iraqi archaeologist, picked up a clay panel fallen from one of the ancient walls of Babylon. Paw prints of a dog that wandered onto the drying clay more than 2,000 years ago obscure part of the cuneiform inscription a reminder that these ruins were once a living city.
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LISBON (Reuters) - Portuguese singer Carlos do Carmo, one of the country’s most beloved artists who was known as the “Sinatra” of the soulful, melancholic fado music, died on Friday at the age of 81.
FILE PHOTO: Portuguese fado singers Marisa and Carlos do Carmo perform at the show of the New 7 Wonders in Lisbon s Luz stadium July 7, 2007. REUTERS/Jose Manuel Ribeiro
Do Carmo, born in Lisbon in 1939, said goodbye to the stage last year after a long career during which he took fado around the world. He became the first Portuguese artist to receive a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.
Portuguese singer Carlos do Carmo, one of the country's most beloved artists who was known as the "Sinatra" of the soulful, melancholic fado music, died on Friday at the age of 81.
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Switzerland and France had last year presented a joint application for their centuries-old cross-border watchmaking craft to be included on the list. Photo: AFP
The craftmanship of Swiss and French mechanical watchmaking on Wednesday (Dec 16) won Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific And Cultural Organisation) intangible heritage status, casting the spotlight on an art practised for centuries in the Jura mountain region straddling the two countries.
Inclusion on the prestigious global list highlights a living and emblematic tradition in the French-Swiss Jura Arc , the Swiss cultural ministry said in a statement.
The craftmanship getting the Unesco nod sits at a crossroads of science, art and technology , the UN agency said.