Fireworks marking the New Year have destroyed a 1600-year-old city gate in the ancient walled city of Zhengding, northern China. The fire, which took place on the 19th February, gutted the 5th century structure, which underwent conservation in 2001. No injuries or loss of life was reported in the fire, which has caused financial losses, estimated by the China Daily newspaper at one million yuan.

At least 41 people have been killed after a minaret collapsed during Friday prayers at the Bab Berdieyinne Mosque in Meknes, Morocco. In addition, the 400 year-old mosque itself was seriously damaged in the collapse. The historical centre of Meknes is a UNESCO world heritage site, having once been the seat of one of Morocco’s ruling dynasties. It is thought that heavy rainfall in the region might have contributed to the accident.

UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre has recently conducted a technical visit to the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, Peru to assess damage from recent torrential rains. The World Heritage Centre is concerned that the vast quantity of water has affected the water-bearing capacity of soils, leading to a threat of future landslides and fatalities in the core zone of the site. The nature of the reconstruction of the road and trail, potentially creating uncontrolled access to the Sanctuary and impacting the outstanding universal value of the site, are also concerns.

In January 2010 heavy rain caused flooding which washed away roads and railway tracks leading to Machu Picchu, trapping more than 2,000 tourists at the site. They have since been evacuated, along with 2,000 local people. Machu Picchu has since been closed but is set to reopen by the end of February. Machu Picchu is Peru’s most visited tourist site.

Throughout the world, conservators and policy makers are considering the implications of global warming for heritage. BBC presenter Alice Roberts has visited three sites in Ireland, Scotland and England (Newgrange, Rosslyn and Exmoor) to investigate possible responses to the problem and reported on them in Costing the Earth, Protecting the Past.

To read more and, for a limited time only, hear the programme, go to the BBC website.

The severe snowstorms on America’s east coast have led to the collapse of a roof at a Smithsonian store. The Smithsonian has said that no artefacts have been damaged by the accident. The Garber Facility in Suitland, where the roof collapse took place, houses spacecraft, aeroplanes and other artefacts for the National Air and Space Museum. A Smithsonian spokesperson has said that the museum artefacts were all housed in safety containers. A full evaluation of the site’s safety is said to be in progress shortly.

For more information, see the Huffington Post website.

A restored version of the science fiction classic Metropolis has been shown to mark the 60th anniversary of the Berlinale festival. The special gala screening included an extra thirty minutes of previously lost footage from the film. The film’s restoration came about after 30 lost minutes of the original film were rediscovered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2008. The film has undergone meticulous restoration at the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation in the past few years. Fritz Lang’s silent distopian classic was originally released 83 years ago.

Find out more on the BBC website.

At the end of February 2010, the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro (now renamed the Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione ed il Restauro) will be forced to leave the historical premises where it was founded 70 years ago, as a result of an eviction order requested by the company who owns the building. The ISCR is one of the most prestigious Italian institutions, a reference point for international conservation and key in the profession’s modernisation process since 1939. Without governmental intervention, the Institute will be transferred to temporary premises, due to the lack of an adequate alternative site. The hasty transfer of the Institute could compromise the forthcoming reopening of the Restoration School, and weaken the efficiency of the Institute’s technical-scientific capabilities, threatening its continued existence.

The Istituto Centrale per il Restauro was founded in 1939, based on a project developed by Giulio Carlo Argan and Cesare Brandi, to ensure that restoration and conservation activities would be carried out on a scientific basis and to unify the conservation methods applied to works of art and archaeological artefacts. Cesare Brandi was its first director and the author of the Theory of Restoration a key text for conservators worldwide. In the 70 years of its activity, the Istituto has played a major role in the international field of conservation and has influenced schools and conservation programs in many countries.

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UNESCO has called for a ban on trade in Haitian artefacts to prevent the pillaging of the country’s heritage. The organisation is launching a campaign to protect the country’s moveable heritage, particularly art collections in damaged museums, galleries and churches, now at risk from theft. The Director-General, Irina Bokova, is seeking the support of the whole international community and of art market and museum professionals in enforcing the ban. “It is particularly important,” she has urged, “to verify the origin of cultural property that might be imported, exported and/or offered for sale, especially on the Internet.”

UNESCO has stressed the importance of preventing treasure hunters from rifling through the rubble of the cultural landmarks that collapsed in the earthquake. Among them are the former Presidential Palace and Cathedral of Port-au-Prince, along with many edifices in Jacmel, a 17th century French colonial town. The one property already inscribed on the List – the National History Park, Citadel, Sans Souci, Ramiers, has mostly survived the earthquake, along with the country’s main museums and archives. UNESCO has already assisted the salvage of the rich historical archives of George Corvington, the historian of Haiti. It is also contributing to attempts to rescue whatever significant fragments remain of the remarkable painted murals that once decorated the Episcopal Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Port-au-Prince.