Keeping Art Away from ISIS Sledgehammers

Centuries from now, it will be the artifacts, art, and treasure that remain to document the history of human civilization.

That is — if we can stop one group of iconoclastic radicals from erasing this history and turning a bloody buck while they’re at it.

“God has ordered us to destroy these.”

Last year, we saw images of the fanatical Islamic State brutally using sledgehammers and drills to destroy artifacts at a museum in Mosul, Iraq.

In the Syrian city of Palmyra, they have smashed other important artifacts and created a “cultural cleansing” of the Middle East’s shrines, temples, and monument sites.

In videos, the ISIS looters say, “God has ordered us to destroy these.”

But they’re not destroying everything. Indeed, the Islamic State has been flooding the antiquities black market for profit.

In May of this year, President Obama signed into law the Protect and Preserve International Cultural Property Act, which cracks down on the trafficking of looted Syrian artifacts.

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Gary Vikan, a retired art museum director, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that efforts to exclude from the U.S. all antiquities thought to originate in those countries “were a mistake” on the part of the U.S.

“The expenses that museums might incur — including the costs of returning the pieces to the countries of their origin — are worth paying to keep [the works of art] out of reach of ISIS sledgehammers,” he wrote.

“We should be open to dealing with bad guys to create a safe harbor for works of art.”

Related: Taking on ISIS for the World’s Well-Being

Vikan’s suggestion might sound risky, but he is one of the most authoritative art experts in the world and has spent decades navigating the art world.

In his new memoir “Sacred and Stolen: Confessions of a Museum Director,” he reveals the art world’s sketchy dealings, forgeries, and thefts.  As the former head of Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum, he has extensive experience in rescuing classic art around the world and returning the pieces to their home countries.

Vikan is “Indiana Jones” meets “The Thomas Crown Affair.”

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He reveals in his book the behind-the-scenes drama that goes into assembling collections such as the Walters Art Museum’s extensive collection of historic art and relics during his tenure.

He is deeply disturbed by its destruction of cultural treasures.

“The horror and frustration that followed intensified the debate between museum professionals and archaeologists over how best to deal with antiquities looted from regions in military conflict,” he wrote in his book.

The art and archaeological community wants to stop any distribution of artifacts stolen by ISIS from reaching our border, and the U.N. has passed a resolution to ban the trade of Syrian antiquities.

Vikan has seen what happens when people are forced from their homes and hostile elements take over their historical sites, particularly in northern Cyprus during the Turkish invasion of 1974.

“With the forced evacuation of the ethnically Greek Christians from the north in the later 1970s, their ancient churches were abandoned to the mercy of local Muslim populations who were hostile, not simply indifferent, to their survival,” Vikan wrote. “And they were especially hostile toward sacred Christian images.”

Vikan said he hopes the archaeological world reconsiders and finds a way to help provide a “safe harbor” for “our shared cultural heritage” by not shrinking “from dealing with the bad guys” before thousand-year-old treasures are destroyed forever.