Preventive Measures for the Safeguard of Cultural Heritage in the Event of Armed Conflict

Anyone who lives in a zone at war risk has little difficulty in working out whether war is imminent; the recent crisis in Iraq, for example, was heralded by a lengthy diplomatic controversy accompanied by accusations and threats between USA and Iraq.
In these circumstances it is the task of conservationists and museum, archive and library heads to put a protection system in place to safeguard cultural heritage from the dangers of a potential conflict.
The present article illustrates general preventive measures and first steps for the safeguard and conservation of cultural property in the event of armed conflict. These measures should be joined by further action specifically taking into account the features and location of the cultural property to be protected.
It is fairly obvious that in order to put in place safeguarding operations of cultural property or sites timely and effectively it would be useful in peacetime to draw up specific guidelines for personnel charged with the task of protecting cultural property, to plan the action to be taken and procedures to be followed as well as providing the materials and staff necessary should any conflict or attack arise.