Add World Heritage Sites to the list of Philadelphia firsts. The founding fathers first met in Philadelphia and the city was the first capital while Washington, D.C. was under construction. Philadelphia is the first American city to be named a world heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Philadelphia’s new title of World Heritage City joins the ranks of 266 other cities like Florence, Paris, St. Petersburg, Rome, and Jerusalem. Another 800 sites worldwide include temples, geographic locations, and landmarks like the Great Wall of China and the Egyptian Pyramids.

UNESCO selects sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of all of humanity. Under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund for upkeep and preservation. Many of the sites receive a boost from tourism, thanks to the awareness the UNESCO designation brings.

While each World Heritage Site remains part of the legal territory of the state or nation where the site is located, UNESCO considers it in the interest of the international community to preserve each site for future posterity.

Philly natives and all those who lobbied for the World Heritage designation call it a point of civic pride. They hope that the news will draw hundreds of millions of dollars to Philly in tourism revenue and strengthen Philadelphia’s international image.

”We have an opportunity to really look over the menu and decide what kind of relationship we’d like to foster,” said John F. Smith III, chair of the Global Philadelphia Association, which worked on the bid. “We would like nothing better than to connect people, to achieve commercial marriages, to let people start talking directly to each other … and see where it goes.”

Interestingly, UNESCO named a location in Philly as a World Heritage Site before the city. Independence Hall became a UNESCO heritage site in 1979. The council found Independence Hall significant to humanity because both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution–documents responsible for the founding of the United States–were signed there.

Increased city revenue from tourism is the biggest benefit. The city commissioned a study to weigh the benefits of such a designation before deciding to lobby for the title. The study found that a UNESCO designation has the potential to increase foreign tourism by ten percent to fifteen percent, amounting to an additional 60,000 to 100,000 additional visitors annually. The increase would create approximately $150 million per year in expanded economic activity, according to the report.

And domestic tourism could grow by a modest one percent to two percent but generate an additional $100 to $200 million in economic impact, according to the study.

But the benefits of the UNESCO designation go beyond an increase in tourism. Denis Ricard, secretary-general of the Organization of World Heritage Cities, added that Philadelphia will gain access to many funded programs that assist cities maintain and promote their heritage.

“It opens up a full network of cities around the world,” said Ricard.

Following the destruction of some of the world’s famous UN heritage sites, including Palmyra in Syria, the United Nations has taken a bold move to protect all the sites which are at a risk of possible subsequent attacks. Through a statement released to the media, Dario Franceschini, the Italian culture minister, announced that the United Nations will be moving to protect heritage sites with the help of blue helmets. He further expressed his concerns on the issue, stating that the international community wouldn’t sit back and watch the persistent terrorist attacks, especially after the images of Palmyra were released. According to him, 53 countries, including the permanent members of the Security Council, fully supported the proposal and consequently voted for it.

The United Nations, which has already deployed peace-keeping troops to the war torn region, will add important heritage sites to its protection list. Therefore, in addition to protecting potential war victims, the United Nations will now have to position troops around and within the sites which are relevant to the world’s heritage. This is after mapping out the sites in the war zone which are at a significantly high risk of being destructed by Islamic State fighters.

Minister Franceschini further expressed the urgency of the matter, calling for the UN to “immediately define the operational aspects of this task force”

The blue helmets, otherwise popularly referred to as United Nations Peace-Keepers, are a specialized troop of soldiers who are deployed in natural disaster and war zones to take charge and prevent further destruction and loss of lives.  As they prepare to undertake the mission, the Italian Minister indicated that they will largely benefit from Italy’s cultural and heritage police expertise, which has repeatedly come in handy during training missions in different parts of the world.

The United Nations’ intervention comes at a convenient time, considering the anxiety and international fears triggered by the IS control of Palmyra in May. They caused a lot of irreversible damage on the UNESCO World Heritage listed city. Other heritage site destructions by the militants include the Temple of Baal Sharmin, which came down in August after being blown up; Nimrud and Khorsabad, an ancient Assyrian capital; and Hatra. All these sites are located in Syria and Iraq, a region that has predominantly witnessed successive IS militant attacks.

This is not the first time UNESCO world heritage sites have been threatened by Islamic Militants. In fact, they are accused of carrying out attacks in Timbuktu, consequently demolishing ten historic and religious monuments in the world famous ancient city.

It’s now up to the UN Blue Helmets to prevent further destructions, as the United Nations continues to assess the crisis and strategize on additional measures to restore peace in the troubled region. At the moment, refugees continue trickling into Europe as they flee from the warzone, where more than 200,000 people have lost their lives.

This Islamic state terrorist group, better known as ISIS, is on a rampage completely destroying famous heritage sites in an attempt to fund their terrorist activity. The most recent target of the group was the Arch of Triumph, which was iconic to the city of Palmyra, a city located in Syria. This site dated back to Roman times and was a gateway to the city’s colonnaded ruins. One by one, these famous worldwide heritage sites are being attacked with bulldozers and explosives by ISIS followers. They feel the need to continue the war on the cultural heritage of both Iraq and Syria since they took over territories in 2014.

Isis’s prime motivation is money. A better idea would be to simply go to title loans Corpus Christi.

Other Syrian Heritage Sites, Destroyed

Palmyra-A video released in August showed the mass destruction of the Temple of Baalshamin, also located in the ancient town of Palmyra, Syria. The larger Palmyrene temple, which was dedicated the god Bel, was completely leveled through the use of explosives. Following the groups takeover in May, militants made false promises to leave the columns and temples untouched. They even publicly executed a Syrian archaeologist who oversaw excavations in the area. It seems that the ISIS group is looking to destroy every site that is representative of any pre-Islamic groups, which celebrated difference, and will not stop until they are all destroyed. Before being destroyed, ISIS members have looted the areas in search of ancient artifacts that can be sold to fund more acts of terrorism. It is only a matter of time before all famous Syrian heritage sites are destroyed, and remembered only through photographs.

Mar Elian Monastery– ISIS is really trying to make a statement with all the demolition in Syria, and even goes as far as posting photos and videos to popular social media sites. The Mar Elian Monastery is a Christian monastery captured in August, very close to Palmyra. Mar Elian was a saint and the monastery paid tribute to a site that once sheltered hundreds of Christian Syrians. The site was bulldozed by ISIS, completely toppling the walls around the monastery.

Country of Iraq heritage sites, completely gone

In addition to Syria, ISIS also completely took over Iraq, and you guessed it, has been completely ruining popular sites around the country. In March, the organization destroyed Khorsabad, the ancient Assyrian capital. Shortly after, they provided the world a look at their destruction of Hatra and Nimrud. Hatra was located on the outskirts of the Roman Empire, and the capital of an independent kingdom. When ISIS took over, they used the area for training camp. The group used ancient sculptures and buildings for target practice, completely destroying the area. Nimrud was the very first Assyrian capital, excavated in the mid 1800’s. Luckily, archaeologists who discovered several stone sculptures sent the items to famous world museums, which will remain untouched by ISIS. Unfortunately, we can’t say the same for the site itself, which has a wide range of damage.

Imam Dur Mausoleum- Last October, ISIS had the idea of completely blowing up the Imam Dur Mausoleum in Iraq, close to the city of Samarra. This site was home to a medieval Islamic architecture, and was a beautiful sight to behold. Now it is completely gone, for the rest of eternity.

 

The list of famous heritage sites destroyed by ISIS members just continues to grow, and there are several other sites not listed. The reality of the situation is that human beings were not given the opportunity to visits these sites safely in recent years, and because of the ISIS terrorist group, they never will. The world is filled with ancient locations with amazing sites. Could you imagine one of these sites in your country or hometown being destroyed by ISIS? What is going to happen once they completely destroy all heritage sites in Syria and Iraq? What area of the world will they destroy next?