The programme aims to educate students on the issues of the destruction and protection of both tangible and intangible heritage.

In an era of demographic, urban, and climatic pressures, as well as ongoing wars at the gates of Europe, heritage is increasingly subjected to threats of destruction, sometimes accidental, sometimes intentional. 

This programme seeks to explore political issues and the instrumentalization of heritage by state actors. Students are encouraged to develop a critical, constructive, and inclusive response to these challenges.

By gaining expertise in national and international legal frameworks, students will also develop awareness and practical tools (such as mediation and digitalization) that can be shared by institutional decision-makers and citizens alike. 

The teaching team’s expertise, drawn from diverse backgrounds and countries, with a particular focus on ancient Western Asia - where issues of endangered cultural heritage have been particularly pressing in recent years - will offer students a broad and varied perspective.

Furthermore, archives of UNESCO World Heritage sites, such as Arslantepe, Palmyra, and Petra, will be presented to students, offering relevant case studies where experiments with digital tools have yielded valuable insights.

This course is a continuation of the previous one, on the same topic, that was carried out by the same four partners last year. To assess students' learning, the course includes an online component as well as mandatory reading material. 

The Madrid-based component (see programme) will give students the opportunity to deliver an oral presentation and share their thoughts and comments on the readings and topics studied during the online component. These readings are intended to prepare students for the field visits and to encourage critical thinking and reflection on the construction of cultural identities from a colonial and postcolonial perspective (learning outcome).

The Physical mobility section of the course will be held between 15-19 February 2027 in Madrid (Spain):

Monday, 15 February

• 09:00 – 13:00: welcoming session with greetings from UAM head of the Department and Professors of the teaching staff; presentation of the activities carried out by the teaching staff at Madrid dealing with endangered cultural heritage; explanation of the students presentations and evaluations at the end of the physical component;
• 15:00 - 17:00: visit to the Blanco Freijeiro classroom to learn about the history of the ancient Near East and Egypt; workshop on recovering history and setting up a dialogue for museum displays.

Tuesday, 16 February

• 10:00 – 13:00: visit to the UAM Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions in the center of Madrid; workshop on intangible culture and how traditions form part of our lives;
• 15:00 - 18:00: prepare a group project, then present and discuss how very different traditions can coexist thanks to migration.

Wednesday, 17 February

• 10:00 – 13:00: visit to the Museum of America and the Moncloa area in Madrid. Here, the distant and recent past coexist, both controversial, potentially influencing the debate on the meaning of cultural heritage;
• 15:00 - 18:00: workshop exhibition and debate exploring how colonial and postcolonial discourses influence our analysis and discussions about the past. How can we incorporate these conversations into museums?

Thursday, 18 February

• 09:00 – 13:00: visit to Madrid de los Austrias (searching for the remains of Muslim Madrid) and the Museum of the Origins of Madrid;
• 15:00 - 17:00: workshop and discussion on how we narrate our history, what remains of it in cities, and how we can construct different discourses depending on our ideology or intentions.

Friday, 19 February

• 09:00 – 13:00: tour of the UAM facilities, a small campus located near the mountains and close to Madrid; learn about the history of its creation; later, there will be a presentation carried out by the students during the course.
• 15:00 - 17:00: students’ works presentations and discussion among all participants, followed by an evaluation by the teaching staff; recap of everything covered in the course, followed by an evaluation by teachers and students; farewell and closing; farewell refreshments.

The virtual part will take place on Fridays, between 2 October - 11 December 2026, as following:

• ​2 October, 4:00 - 6:00 PM CET - General Introduction: presentation of the teaching staff, explanation of the course contents;
• ​9 October, 4:00 - 6:00 PM CET: Cultural Heritage and Identity (Laurent Tholbecq);
• 16 October, 4:00 - 6:00 PM CET: International and national Legal framework (Patrick Michel, Marina Gallinaro);
• 23 October, 4:00 - 6:00 PM CET: Cultural Heritage at risk  (Lucia Mori, Lorenzo Verderame, Davide Nadali, Francesca Ballossi Restelli, Laurent Tholbecq);
• 30 October, 4:00 - 6:00 PM CET: Cultural Heritage and Digital Humanitites. Practical Approaches (Patrick Michel, Lorenzo Verderame);
• 6 November, 4:00 - 6:00 PM CET: Iraqi heritage destroyed. Memory at risk (Carmen del Cerro Linares);
• 13 November, 4:00 - 6:00 PM CET: Illicit Trafficking and Economic Management of Cultural Goods (Lorenzo Verderame, Davide Nadali);
• 20 November, 4:00 - 6:00 PM CET: case studies: Two archaeological collection from Central Africa / Archaeology in Israel and occupied territories (Nicolas Nikis, Laurent Tholbecq);
• 27 November, 4:00 - 6:00 PM CET: case studies: Archaeology in Turkey (Unesco site Arslantepe), Syria (Ebla) and Iraq (tell Zhurgul) - Francesca Balossi Restelli, Davide Nadali;
• 4 December, 4:00 - 6:00 PM CET: Cultural heritage and colonial and postcolonian wiews (Fernando Escribano Martin, Marina Gallinaro);
• 11 December, 4:00 - 6:00 PM CET: Debating Present and Future Issues on endangered cultural heritage: open discussion with teaching staff and students on the questions raised in the course of the virtual component.