Cultural heritage

Muslim worshippers make their way towards the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque complex in in the holy city of Mecca to take part in morning prayers on the first day of Eid Al-Adha, the feast of the sacrifice, early on June 6, 2025.

In photos: Muslims kick off Eid al-Adha across the Middle East

The holiday’s arrival cast a spotlight on deepening humanitarian crises, leadership transitions and shifting regional dynamics.

An Egyptian Bedouin walks with his camel on Feb. 24, 2000, outside the walls of Saint Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula, some 400 kilometers southeast of Cairo.

Egypt, Greece pledge to protect Mount Sinai monastery after court ruling: What to know

Greece and Egypt have launched a diplomatic effort to reaffirm the status of Saint Catherine’s Monastery, one of the most revered monasteries in Christianity.

The pilgrims' convoy departs from the city of Al-Dana, Syria, to Damascus Airport in order to set off to Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj rituals on May 21, 2025.

Saudi Arabia releases Iranian cleric who criticized Hajj: What to know

Iran-Saudi Arabia relations have improved in recent years, including in Hajj-related cooperation, though tensions remain over Iran’s regional policies.

A worshiper waves the flag of Argentina as Pope Francis arrives for the weekly general audience on June 5, 2019 at St. Peter's square in the Vatican. (Photo by Vincenzo PINTO / AFP) (Photo credit should read VINCENZO PINTO/AFP via Getty Images)

Pope Francis, voice for Middle East peace and first to visit Gulf, dies at 88

Pope Francis died on Monday after serving as pontiff for 11 years, advocating for human rights and inclusion in the Middle East and beyond.

By Rosaleen Carroll

In Washington, DC, US, reporting on the Middle East

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Khartoum accuses RSF of looting and destroying Sudan's heritage: What to know

The heavily damaged Shahid (Martyr) Mosque is pictured in Khartoum's Muqrin neighbourhood on March 22, 2025. Sudan's army and allied armed groups seized the country's presidential palace on March 21 in the ongoing war against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries, which the RSF had used since the start of the war to house elite forces and stockpile ammunition. The military has since launched a clearing operation to push the RSF out of the city centre, retaking on March 22 several strategic state ins

In photos: Muslims celebrate Eid el-Fitr across the Middle East

Muslims perform the morning prayer around the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca, early on March 30, 2025.

Israeli army escorts ultra-Orthodox Jews to religious site in south Lebanon: What to know

ultra-Orthodox

Muslims across Middle East welcome Ramadan despite war, inflation

Pigeons fly in front of the Dome of the Rock shrine at the Al-Aqsa mosques compound in the Old City of Jerusalem, ahead of the start of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan on Feb. 28, 2025.

By Rosaleen Carroll

In Washington, DC, US, reporting on the Middle East

A sparrow perches in a recess along a wall adorned with reliefs at the Mortuary Temple of the 20th dynasty Pharaoh Ramses III at Medinet Habu, on the west bank of the Nile outside Luxor, Egypt, April 10, 2021.

Egypt traces relics of Ramses III back to Saudi Arabia

An Egyptian archaeological mission is preparing to launch an excavation project in Saudi Arabia after several discoveries showed that ancient Egyptian King Ramses III had a presence in the Arabian Peninsula.

A man passes by a Turkish anti riot police officer stands guard during the Friday prayers during the inauguration of a 4000-capacity mosque in Istanbul's iconic Taksim square on May 28, 2021.

Turkish president unveils new mosque in heart of Istanbul

Building the mosque in the center of Turkey’s largest city has symbolic value regarding the struggle between secularism and Islamic conservatism in the country.

Samir Mansour and bookstore ruins

Israeli war adds scars to Palestinian psyche

Activists see Israel’s bombing of cultural centers, bookstores and other cultural institutions in the Gaza Strip, as well as the killing of a 17-year-old in a refugee camp in the West Bank, as an attempt to obliterate Palestine’s cultural identity.

mosaic floor of ancient synagogue in Jericho

Palestinian fears rise as settlers visit synagogue ruins in Jericho

Israeli settlers' increased visits to the ruins of two synagogues in the Jericho area in the West Bank worry Palestinians.

Dancers with El-Funoun Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe perform during the opening night of the Palestine International Festival, Ramallah, West Bank, July 2, 2009.

Palestinian dancer jailed in Israel

Palestinians are accusing Israel of arbitrarily cracking down on cultural expression.

In this handout picture released by the Turkish presidential press office, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) and invited guests attend Friday prayers at Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque during the building's first official prayers after being reconverted into a mosque on July 24, 2020, in Istanbul, Turkey.

Erdogan is MENA’s most popular leader, Arab Barometer finds

Turkey's promotion of cultural heritage, including through its tourism and entertainment sectors, is one reason for Erdogan's popularity. However, the perception of the Ottoman legacy is gradually shifting from one of praise to one of condemnation toward Turkish policies.

A large mosaic is pictured at the archaeological site of the St. Hilarion Monastery, one of the largest Christian monasteries in the Middle East, in Tell Umm al-Amr close to Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on March 19, 2013. The earliest building dates back to the fourth century and is attributed to St. Hilarion, a native of the Gaza region and the father of Palestinian monasticism. Abandoned after a seventh-century earthquake and uncovered by local archaeologists in 1999, today the settlement asp

New archaeological discovery in St. Hilarion Monastery

In cooperation with Palestinian experts, a French antiquities mission found graves dating back to the Byzantine era at the site of St. Hilarion in the western Gaza Strip.

Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) conservator Tanya Bitler displays recently-discovered 2000-year-old biblical scroll fragments from the Bar Kochba period, after completion of preservation work at the authority's Dead Sea conservation lab in Jerusalem, on March 16, 2021. - Israel described the find, which includes a cache of rare coins, a six-millennia-old skeleton of a child and basket it described as the oldest in the world, at over 10,000 years, as one of the most significant since the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Dead Sea Scrolls unearthed by Israeli archaeologists in desert cave

The Israeli project also discovered the remains of a mummified child and what's believed to be the world's oldest basket.

This picture taken on August 18, 2019 shows restoration works ongoing at the historic "Le Palais Hindou" (also known as the "Baron Empain Palace") built by in the early 20th century by Belgian industrialist Edouard Louis Joseph, Baron Empain, in the classical Khmer architectural style of Cambodia's Angkor Wat, in the Egyptian capital Cairo's northeastern Heliopolis district. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) (Photo credit should read KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)

How Cairo’s Heliopolis heritage managed to remain uncovered

The residents of Cairo's Heliopolis neighborhood have succeeded in stopping a government decision to build a new bridge in the heart of its historical and heritage area.

Egypt unveils restored Isis Temple 150 years after its discovery

Egypt inaugurates the restored Temple of Isis in Aswan as part of the government’s efforts to revive the tourism sector.

Iran offers to help Iraq reconstruct damaged archaeological masterpiece

Iran has expressed interest in helping repair the Taq Kasra, the remains of a pre-Islamic Persian palace in Iraq with a historically significant archway.

Palestine’s 'techno queen' scapegoated by politicians trying to escape responsibility

Misinterpretations of a music video shot in the area of a West Bank holy site cause anger, an arrest of the DJ and the burning of furniture to be used for the development of cultural tourism at the location.