Monuments of civilizations in catastrophe: "Hittite stone" in Aleppo
A lot of monuments of significant historical and scientific importance have been destroyed or are still under threat of destruction during the armed conflict in Syria that started in 2011. As it could be concluded from the author’s analysis, Syria is a territory, where during thousands of years different civilizations emerged, developed and communicated with each other. Therefore, the loss of Syrian historical monuments is a threat to the global culture. Nevertheless, new objects of Syrian cultural heritage are regularly included in the list of losses. In this situation the international organizations specializing in preserving cultural heritage are unable to change the situation and just encourage to collect and public information about the monuments which have already been destroyed or are under threat of destruction. The article at hand is devoted to the case of “Hittite stone” in Aleppo - the unique historical object that was a key to discovery and exploration of ancient bronze civilization. This artefact serves as an example of value and fragility of cultural inheritance now being in the catastrophic situation. The importance of informing the public, drawing attention to the acute problem of preserving the heritage of past eras is proclaimed by many researchers. Description of the history of the "Hittite stone" is the answer to this appeal, which, perhaps, will expand the circle of stakeholders, will prompt experts to study Syrian artifacts in distress.