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When armed conflicts devastate a country, its architectural heritage suffers. Its recovery is a multifaceted problem. This paper explores the architectural conservation challenges and complexities in conflict-ravaged Syria through in-depth interviews with Syrian heritage officials, practitioners, and experts. Analysis of the interviews and observations in the field has revealed the significant domestic challenges, threats, and weaknesses in the post-conflict recovery of built heritage. Syria shares characteristics with other post-conflict societies, especially the lack of financial and human resources, which are vital for efficient post-conflict conservation planning. However, Syria is also challenged by a diversity of domestic issues relating to the deficiencies in its heritage management and legislation systems. These include, among others, weaknesses in the preservation legislation, lack of archival records/documentation of the pre-destruction state of built heritage, inadequacies of the skilled workforce, and inefficient coordination and collaboration between the stakeholders. The article shows how improving the local heritage management capacity and infrastructure during peacetime is the key to an effective recovery in the aftermath of human or natural catastrophes. Doing so would reduce the uncertainty of depending on global aid and resources, which are scarce and politically complicated to access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of their crucial role in interpreting histories, museums and the artefacts they display create a space for stories essential to cultural heritage. The destruction of museums causes irreversible losses in the cultural identity and memory of the local and global communities. Yet, despite international attempts to prevent them from being targeted, museums were extensively damaged (directly or collaterally) in almost all contemporary international, regional, and local armed conflicts. Different heritage philosophies have been adopted in the post-conflict periods to reconstruct the damaged museum buildings. However, the shaping of intervention strategies has received little scrutiny in the conservation literature. Examining the interventions in various war-damaged museums in Europe and the Middle East, this article aims to reveal insights into the architectural and political concerns and approaches adopted in different temporal and geographical contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]