Making Sense of Collection Histories: Cultural Heritage in Context
June 16, 2026
About the Event:
The late nineteenth to early twentieth century saw an explosion of the antiquities market in the Mediterranean and Eastern Mediterranean region – closely tied to the disintegrating Ottoman Empire and the rise of European colonisation of the Middle East. The fragile situation allowed for an increase in demand for and acquisition of ancient material throughout Europe. This period also marked the rise of systematic looting, grey zones in collection practices and forgery practices, the effects of which continue to shape the field today. By examining the limitations of former and current international legal frameworks for the protection of cultural heritage, this colloquium explored the challenges researchers face in addressing the illicit trafficking of antiquities, particularly those displaced during periods of conflict. It takes its point of departure in the work done within the Palmyra Portrait Project since 2012.
For this event, Center for Art Law was joined by Dr. Rubina Raja, Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art at Aarhus University, to explore how historical looting and legal gaps are shaping contemporary efforts to combat the illicit antiquities trade. Dr. Raja led a conversation on contemporary, collaborative approaches to combating the illicit trade in antiquities, with a particular focus on Palmyra (Tadmor), Syria.
Drawing on the historical relationship between collecting and looting, the discussion highlighted the Palmyrene Portrait Project, a corpus of over 4,000 funerary portraits from Palmyra compiled by Dr. Raja and her team since 2012. The project serves as a critical record of material that, in many cases, remained in situ prior to the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War. Before its inception, this body of material had not been treated as a unified corpus, nor systematically digitized. Today, the project stands as both the largest corpus of individual Roman period portraits from a single urban context and an essential scholarly and practical tool for identifying objects from Palmyra as they emerge on the art market.
About the Speaker:
Rubina Raja is a Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art at Aarhus University and Director of the Locally Crafted Empires project and the Lost Cities Project. An internationally recognized scholar, she specializes in urban development, religion, and visual culture in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East. Raja has lead other major interdisciplinary projects, including the Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre of Excellence for Urban Network Evolutions and the Palmyra Portrait Project. The latter has created the most comprehensive corpus of funerary portraiture from the oasis city of Palmyra. Other of her current projects include an investigation of the Danish archaeological engagement in the Middle East between the 19th and 20th centuries and the development of archaeological funding structures and their impact on research development. Her work bridges archaeology, history, natural sciences and digital humanities, museum studies and collection histories, advancing global understanding of cultural heritage and ancient social networks.
