Marmomacc Honors Khaled al-Asaad
VERONA, Italy – A special award in memory of Khaled al-Asaad, for 40 years the director of the Palmyra archaeological site in Syria until heinously murdered by ISIS militants this summer, came as part of this year’s Masters of Stone ceremony at Marmomacc.
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Marmomacc also honored Zenildo Petrilli Nunes of Graniti Gruppo Thor and Matteo Cavaioni of the Studio M Workshop as Masters of Stone.
al-Asaad, 83, was a native of Tadmur, the modern city adjacent to the location of the ancient Palmyra, and headed archeological efforts at the site for 40 years until his retirement in 2003. His work was instrumental in having Palmyra, with its ruins dating back to the second millennium BC, declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
ISIS jihadists arrested al-Asaad early this summer, and beheaded him in a Tadmur public square on August 18. al-Asaad reportedly refused to divulge the location of hidden antiquities to ISIS, which labeled him after the slaying as an “apostate” and “the director of idolatry” at Palmyra.
Luca Peyronel, the delegate of the President of the UNESCO Commission in Italy, accepted the award.
The Masters of Stone Awards went to Petrilli Nunes for “his personal and professional career developed thanks to immense commitment, dedication and determination,” and Cavaioni, also a professor at the Paolo Brenzoni School of Art in Sant’Ambrogio di Valpolicella, for “having demonstrated through his work a love of art, stone and the land giving him these materials.”
Marmomacc, the most important international event dedicated to the natural stone sector is currently
underway at Veronafiere (www.marmomacc.com), announced an Master of Stone Award in memory of the scholar of antiquities murdered by soldiers of the Caliphate in Syria on 18 August.
The origins of the Master of Stone Award date back to 1319 when, under the rule of Cangrande I della Scala, Verona saw the creation of the Ancient Free Corporation of Stone Arts. In 1980, a group of trade operators and entrepreneurs in Sant’Ambrogio di Valpolicella re-founded this ancient corporation; in the same year Marmomacc set up the award in recognition of people whose activities ensured distinction for the entire marble industry and the economy of the local area.
