Safeguarding Cultural Treasures
Projects
& Initiatives
Global
Rumi Gardens
Rumi Gardens are an ideal transition point linking physical with intangible heritage. In addition to the planned garden in Shush, we are finalizing our plans for a Rumi Garden. We registered a legal copyright for the concept “Rumi Garden”. Professor Elin Haaga and the head of a prominent Landscape Engineering Firm, Jeff Lee, have created initial designs to be adapted for the selected site
Consortium for the Preservation and Advancement of Traditional Knowledge of Plants and Healing (PATH)
For nearly a decade, ARCH has been building out a Consortium for the Preservation and Advancement of Traditional Knowledge of Plants and Healing. (PATH)
We launched this initiative upon realizing the monumental amount of accumulated human knowledge about the medicinal properties of plants, herbs and organic substances. Some of this knowledge is specific, pertaining to plants only grown in a particular region – and from which others could benefit. Much of it is folk knowledge, passed along orally from generation to generation within families and communities and often in the purview of the women.
ARCH Featured at International Conferences
We are pleased to share that ARCH was invited to contribute to the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Abu Ali ibn Sina (Avicenna) – A World Heritage”, held in September 2025 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, as well as to the XIII International Avicenna Readings: Scientific and Practical Conference “Abu Ali Ibn Sina: Great Heritage and Civilization”, held in November 2025 in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. As part of both conferences our contributions were accepted for publication and presentation as part of the official conference program. At the Bukhara Conference a Roundtable was organized specifically dedicated to our project.
We introduced the vision of the Ibn Sina Garden of Health and Healing, a living, educational space that brings Avicenna’s legacy on healing plants and holistic knowledge into contemporary public life. This initiative, developed in close partnership with Uzbekistan’s Avicenna Public Foundation, connects cultural heritage with innovative formats for heritage preservation, education, tourism, and public engagement.
The garden will be built as part of the Afshona Ethnic Village initiative. Afshona is the birthplace of Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and lies just outside of Bukhara.
Contact us for more information or if this project interests you, we look forward to growing our network.
Please find the conference materials below:
Iraq
Shrine of Nahum
We rebuilt the Shrine of Old Testament Prophet Nahum, a three year, 2.5 million dollar effort in a challenging locale. When we started, ISIS was still holding Mosul, a mere 30 miles from the town of Alqosh where the shrine is located.
Shush
We are now restoring a second site in Iraq. The Synagogue of Ezekiel is located in Shush near the remnants of a mosque, a church and a Zoroastrian temple, all in an area of great natural beauty. We envision a contemplative educational Walkway highlighting interfaith friendship
Greece
We conserved the world’s oldest underwater city, Pavlopetri. We set up a protective ring of buoys; achieved the inscription of the site on official maritime navigation maps so ships know to avoid this area; designed a master plan; and initiated a very popular annual series of Watch Day weekends with events for the public and families with hundreds of participants.
Ancient Asopos (Modern Plitra)
Along the coast of Plitra in the southern Peloponnese lie the remains of Ancient Asopos, a site that combines Roman and Byzantine ruins on land with rare and little-studied submerged structures just offshore.
These underwater stone walls, possibly dating back as far as 5,000 years, may represent one of the most important yet neglected prehistoric sites in the Mediterranean.
Despite their potential significance, the ruins remain unprotected and at risk from erosion and neglect. Urgent research and conservation are needed before this unique heritage is lost.
ARCH’s Director of International Programs, Sophia Schultz, won The European Archaeologist Magazine’s Photojournalist of the Year Award.