The impact of conflicts on heritage

Élisabeth Essaïan and Mathilde Leloup curated the exhibition Patrimoines en résistance. From Timbuktu to Odessa, on display at the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine until 3 January 2027. It explores architecture and communities affected by conflict in a variety of contexts. The looting of a listed, millennia-old monument stands alongside the destruction of more ordinary elements of the urban fabric, or the undermining of the identity and cultural significance of a ritual or symbolism. Through the responses to such destruction (commemorating, preserving traces, rebuilding), the curators invite us to re-examine the boundaries of the concept. What does war do to heritage and, by implication, what does it reveal about it?