Samarra's minaret blasted

Shocking news about one of the great icons of world architecture, recently the focus of fierce wrangling among academics over the propriety of stationing US Army sniper/spotter teams near its summit:

Police say insurgents blew up the top section of the 52m (162ft) Malwiya tower, which had been used by US soldiers as a lookout position.

The minaret was built by Caliph al-Mutawakil in 852 when Samarra, a city on the Tigris north of Baghdad, was capital of the Abbasid Empire.

The blast left crumbled brick and clay on the minaret's winding ramps.

Iraq's antiquities officials had expressed concern that US soldiers had also caused significant damage to historic sites in Samarra, including the walls of an ancient palace. . .

US troops pulled out of the site last month.

From the BBC; the Boston Globe adds:

Witnesses said two men climbed the 170-foot-tall minaret, then returned to the ground before the explosion occurred. . .

It was unclear why the minaret was targeted. U.S. troops have used its top as a sniper position, and last year, the Islamic extremist group linked to Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi flew a flag from its peak.

Sgt. Brian Thomas, a spokesman for the 42nd Infantry Division, said coalition forces no longer used the minaret. He said Iraqi police were investigating the explosion.

So which is worse: for a site to be occupied roughly, or not to be occupied at all? It's easy to complain when things go wrong, but there are no easy choices here.

UPDATE: A collection of links and pictures here, at Francis Deblauwe's Iraq War & Archaeology site (he really oughtn't to be hotlinking those images, though). The destruction appears to be limited to the level above the arcade and niches, though there may well be more widespread damage not visible in the pictures.

UPDATE: Alastair Northedge, posting at the IraqCrisis newsgroup, gives reason to hope that the damage is light:

The brick debris on the steps, and the colour of the bricks in the area damaged, suggest that the damage was mainly to the modern restoration. . .

In the 1960s and after, the spiral stairway and other elements were rebuilt into the original form. It is this restoration which was principally affected, though some damage may have occurred to the 9th century structure. The minaret is a solid mass of brick, and would be difficult to destroy entirely. . .

Although this assessment appears reasoned and strictly factual, Northedge then goes on to twist himself into a bit of knot in trying to implicate the US ("According to my source, [the bombing] was done to prevent the US
reoccupying the minaret") while exonerating the "activists of Samarra" -- ending up with the absurdly unconvincing "I speculate that the bombing was so light because, in fact, the Samarrans do not really wish to destroy their minaret."

Ancient Egyptian boats find

Archaeologists have found the remains of boats used by ancient Egyptians for trading trips . . . The boats were discovered in caves in a pharaonic harbor on Egypt’s Red Sea coast, about 300 miles (475 kilometers) southeast of Cairo . . .

“Excavations discovered a group of sail and mast ropes, wooden ship beams and thin planks made of cedars, imported from northern Syria,” MENA quoted Zahi Hawass, chairman of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, as saying.

Full story here.

Blake watercolors export ban

British art galleries and collectors are being asked to find £8.8m for 19 William Blake watercolours in an attempt to keep them in the UK. The government has put a temporary export ban on Designs for Blair's Grave, commissioned in 1805 to illustrate a Robert Blair poetry book.

Their current owner wants to take them abroad - but has agreed to sell them for £8.8m if a British buyer is found. They were discovered in a second-hand bookshop in Glasgow in 2001.

From the BBC.

No accounting for taste

A painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir has been stolen from a Paris auction house shortly before it was due to be sold.

The painting, called Tete de Fillette (Young Girl's Head), is estimated to be worth 200,000 euros (£138,000).

Not to me -- judge for yourself from the picture accompanying the BBC article. Might be good news for the consignor, though, since insurance usually pays off at the reserve.

Which reminds me of a friend who consigned a large piece to auction, where it was damaged by the handlers. He was paid off at his reserve price, and the piece was reconsigned by the insurance company with no reserve -- whereupon he bought it back for a small fraction of what he had received for it . . .

Bianconi heirs overreach

The heirs of glass designer Fulvio Bianconi have been pushing the limits when it comes to asserting their rights to his name -- including trying to impose a blanket ban on eBay on any Bianconi items lacking the family imprimatur. Now the world is pushing back:

Now it seems that eBay have followed up their promise to investigate the matter and have withdrawn the ban.

In September and October the Antiques Trade Gazette reported how the Venini factory of Venice, for whom Bianconi designed, were stepping up legal action against the family. The factory claimed to have documents giving them the rights in perpetuity to the name and designs, and they also revealed that they had already spent eight years taking the family through the courts after they had refused to acknowledge the factory’s rights. Venini said that despite two judgments in the factory’s favour so far, the dispute had yet to be resolved.

The wheels of Italian justice appear to turn slowly indeed. Nonetheless, it does appear the family is tacitly backing down:

Whereas before the Bianconi family were insisting in vetting any objects traded under the designer’s name – and threatening legal action against anyone who did not comply – now they seem to be asking people to respect their wishes and visit their website.

From the Antiques Trade Gazette.

Jules Verne and the "masters of the world"

From BBC Scotland:

A century after Jules Verne's death, science fiction writers still follow in the Frenchman's footsteps. But it has emerged that Scotland provided him with much of his inspiration.

He came here for the first time in 1859, recording gems such as an encounter with "an unusual steam-operated machine" which was seen in a pork butcher's shop in Glasgow. He wrote: "It was very ingenious. A live pig was placed at one end and it came out the other in the form of appetising sausages".

"'What a people,' Jacques exclaimed. 'What genius to apply steam to a charcouterie. No wonder the British are the masters of the world'". . .

Jules Verne then embarked for Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, where the striking terrain inspired a novel about a metropolis hidden beneath Loch Katrine, which he called New Aberfoyle.

The book, The Underground City, is being republished this week with a foreword by modern-day geographer and Verne scholar Professor Ian Thompson.

UPDATE: Please note that the link above goes to an older edition; for the new edition, click here.

Unorthodox art condemned in Moscow

A Moscow court has found the organisers of an art exhibition guilty of inciting religious hatred and fined them 100,000 roubles (£2,000; $3,600) each.

The January 2003 exhibition called "Caution! Religion" was staged by the Sakharov Museum, named after the Soviet-era dissident Andrei Sakharov.

The Russian Orthodox Church had condemned director Yuri Samodurov and his colleague Lyudmila Vasilovskaya. The court ruling said the show was "openly insulting and blasphemous".

From the BBC.

Very old wines

Looking for a gift book? It's been out for a couple of years, but take a look at Patrick McGovern's Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture.

HMS Sussex update: more skirmishing off Gibraltar

HMS Sussex has lain undisturbed on the seabed for more than 300 years, but since researchers discovered the ship was carrying billions of pounds of English gold and silver, it has become the focus of a bitter dispute as the Spanish authorities try to frustrate the attempts of a private company to locate it and start salvage work on behalf of Britain.

International law gives UK authorities jurisdiction over the wrecks of British ships wherever they might lie, and this month the UK government gave permission to an American exploration company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, to salvage the Sussex.

But the regional government of Andalucía claims that Odyssey also needs permission from Spain to carry out exploration in Spanish waters and has sent out coastal patrols to disrupt the salvage operation. . .

From the Guardian.

Forgotten heroes

Which name is more familiar: Paul Ehrlich, or Norman Borlaug? And what does that say about us? Follow the links here, if you haven't already.