In a conflict zone, the future after the ruins: “Heritages in resistance”, the shocking exhibition to see in Paris

It is as much an ode to the beauty of world heritage as it is a crying call to preserve iteven though it has become a target in zones of armed conflict. The exhibition“Heritage en résistances, from Tombouctou to Odessa”carried by the City of architecture under the patronage of the French National Commission for Unesco, and with the Grand Palais RMN as a partner, is to be seen in Paris (Ile-de-France), since Wednesday May 20, 2026 and until January 3, 2027. 

An essential time for reflection

This unique exhibition brings together an exceptional collection of cards (designed by the Sciences Po cartography workshop), textsof modelsof photographs and of video and “thus shows how art and architecture can help repair the world,” presents the Cité de l’architecture.

It aims to deliver “a new look at the conflicts of the 21st century with particular interest in eleven countries, two of which, Ukraine and Palestine, are present throughout the route, alongside Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Armenia, Mali, Yemen, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.”

“Without claiming to be exhaustive, this exhibition sheds light on emblematic sites and situations of the destruction of cultural heritage in the 21st century. By thematic and geographical entries and going back in time, she offers reading keys to understand the extent of what is lost, but also to show the multiple forms of resistance To destruction,” supports the Exhibition Curator.

An invitation to stop, contemplate, and reflect in a world in which we are drowned in a continuous flow of information.

Effacer, résister, réparer

Several aspects are mentioned throughout the course. ErasureFirst of all. “At the beginning of the 1990s, the media and political coverage of the first Gulf War wanted to convince the Western public of the advent of a controlled and sanitized war,” exemplifies the Exhibition Commission. “But the reality was quite different. Shortly after, the mass atrocities committed in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda definitively dispelled this illusion.” This erasure often extends to “ordinary and intangible” heritage.

La résistanceNext. Because if the protection of cultural heritage has long been entrusted to large international institutions (UNESCO, ALIPH or the Aga Khan Foundation), other actors have emerged (NGOs, associations, collectives of citizens and architects)… So many invested people who “carry out multiple actions to protect, inventory, document and represent monumental or ordinary heritage.” On the ground, every gesture becomes a form of resistance.

Finally, repair. “In the 21st century, we no longer only speak of ‘reconstruction’ but also of ‘post-conflict repair’. This process concerns the city, the buildings and the natural environment as well as the minds and bodies, in particular those of women victims of sexual violence.” Beyond the reconstruction of heritage sites, it is a question of “remaking society”.

Alongside the exhibition, a mediation program runs from May 28 to December 11: a cycle of meetings, conferences, screenings and master classes dedicated to the relationships between heritage, conflicts, reconstruction and contemporary creation.

Warning: this exhibition deals with conflict zones and presents works likely to shock sensitive people and children under 12 years old.

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