A vast online archive of archaeological photography, Manar al-Athar—meaning “Guide to Archaeology” in Arabic—has emerged as a crucial tool for safeguarding the cultural heritage of the Middle East amid decades of conflict and destruction.
Conceived by the late Dr Judith McKenzie of the University of Oxford shortly before the region descended into turmoil, the databank now hosts over 30,000 photographs taken by archaeologists and art historians, with thousands more still being uploaded.
Developed to help scholars from war-torn countries study and preserve their national heritage, Manar al-Athar provides free, bilingual (English–Arabic) access to meticulously catalogued and contextually organised images, free from paywalls or copyright restrictions. Unlike unverified online sources, each image is labelled by experts using Oxford’s renowned Sackler Library collections, offering reliable records of sites and artefacts that, in many cases, have since been destroyed.
The project began in 2009–10 when McKenzie worked alongside local archaeologists unable to access ancient sites due to war or politics. Its pilot launch in 2013 coincided with escalating violence in Libya and Syria, making the archive an unintended but vital digital record of a vanishing past. Funding from the Leverhulme Trust, John Fell OUP Research Grant, the British Academy, and others has enabled contributions from leading scholars and institutions, including former Australian ambassador to Syria Dr Ross Burns and the Harvard Semitic Museum’s Dr Joseph Greene.
McKenzie envisioned Manar al-Athar as both a scholarly resource and a cultural bridge, illuminating the past “through light”—a reference to both photography and the Arabic word manar, which also evokes Alexandria’s ancient lighthouse. Despite challenges in securing long-term funding, McKenzie hoped its open-access, bilingual approach would set a global standard for heritage preservation. As Burns observed, Oxford’s commitment to sharing knowledge—rather than guarding it—marks a transformative model for how the world can rebuild its understanding of history from the ruins of conflict.
