Mapping Culture Under Threat

In the Middle East and North Africa ISIS is not only attempting to destroy lives and communities it is also targeting many cultural and historical artifacts in an attempt to destroy cultural histories which fail to conform to their narrow interpretation of the Koran. These attacks have targeted important historical sites and artifacts of Muslims, Christians and many other ethnic groups.

Mapping Culture Under Threat is an attempt by the Antiquities Coalition to map the hundreds of cultural and historical sites destroyed by ISIS in its campaign of cultural cleansing. The Antiquities Collection has identified over 230 sites that have been deliberately targeted or destroyed by ISIS and other extremist groups, including significant monuments from the ancient, Greco-Roman, Islamic, and modern periods.

The map shows heritage sites which have been attacked, targeted or destroyed, using red circular markers. The map also shows the locations of UNESCO Worlds Heritage & Tentative List sites. The heat map layer shows areas which are under the direct control of terrorist groups or which are threatened by areas they have been occupied between January and October 2015.