The beginning

The research project "Destroyed Cultural Heritage" was conceived by students as part of the master's seminar "Practices in the Digital Humanities" in 2022 at the Trier University.
Within the seminar, students are required to carry out a project and develop it using methods from digital humanities and computer science. The projects are freely accessible to other researchers and the general public and should build on the ideals of reusability, availability, and accessibility.
The project team consists of Hendrik Chudoba, Julia Alili, Vivien Wolter, and Luisa Schmidt (from left to right) and was supervised by Dr. Joëlle Weis and Dr. Élodie Ripoll, who teach in the Digital Humanities department. Since its inception, the project has aimed to document and contextualize the destruction of cultural sites caused by conflicts, wars, and other crises. 

Topic choice

Due to Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine, the topic of war and the resulting destruction has been brought back to the forefront since the beginning of 2022. In addition to the unforeseeable consequences for people, the humanitarian emergencies, and the loss of essential infrastructure, the consequences for human culture and cultural assets are also immense.
According to consistent reports by ORF and the Badische Zeitung, by April 1, 2022, "at least 53 cultural sites had been damaged and partially destroyed." These included four museums, four monuments, 16 historic buildings, and 29 churches. On April 6, 2022, ZDF reported that at least 60 cultural assets had been affected.
These figures from the Ukraine war alone illustrate the danger faced by cultural sites of all kinds in war and conflict zones.
Many historic buildings were also irretrievably destroyed during the civil and religious wars in the Near and Middle East. These were also repeatedly part of the reporting and illustrated the extent of the destruction.

Point of Difference

Often, reports on the affected sites are published, but there is a lack of an overview of which sites were destroyed or damaged, when, and in what context. As a result, the destruction of cultural property and human heritage is often forgotten and not treated with the priority it deserves.
This is where the "Destroyed Cultural Property" project comes in, providing a clear and contextualized listing of sites that have fallen victim to wars or conflicts. On this website, the project offers an interactive overview of how much culture has already been lost and presents background information on the individual conflicts in a concise, understandable, and source-based manner. The goal is to raise awareness of the precarious situation that conflicts place not only and primarily people, but also culture and human history.
Due to the small number of project participants, the "Destroyed Cultural Property" project does not claim to be exhaustive; therefore, it is not necessary to list all destroyed or damaged sites. The primary aim of the project is to list only a few sites, but to do so in detail and with context.

Project Development and Updates

Since April 2024, the project has undergone significant technical transformation as part of a Master's thesis. The entire infrastructure has been migrated to the content management system WissKI, which allows for a flexible, scalable, and user-friendly interface.

Previously, data was stored in a standardized LIDO-XML schema. Currently, all information is structured as triples, inspired by Wikidata, enabling better interoperability and linking capabilities. This structure enhances data reuse for research and ensures openness and transparency.

The team continues to operate this project on an entirely volunteer basis, aiming to expand and improve the dataset, especially focusing on lesser-known damaged sites and cultural heritage destroyed after 1900.