Israeli Bombing Damaged Yemen’s National Cultural Heritage Museum

Sept. 20—Yemen’s Houthi Health Ministry has confirmed that the Sept. 10 Israeli attack on Yemen’s capital city Sanaa, resulted in killing 46 people and wounding 165. This attack also damaged Yemen’s National Museum, putting its collection of 30,000 priceless historical and cultural artifacts at risk. The four-story museum, a historic landmark in itself, is still standing, but it suffered blown-out doors and windows, exposing the artifacts to the elements and to potential looting.

The museum is located in a former palace known as Dar Al-Sada (“Palace of Happiness”) and, with its ornate carvings and stained-glass windows, is considered an excellent example of traditional Yemeni architecture. Established in 1971, the museum was forced to close, due to war, from 2011 to 2023. Its collection includes ancient manuscripts, pre-Islamic sculptures, pottery, jewelry, intricate textiles, and even household items reflecting daily life in the ancient world.

Adjacent to the museum is the Old City of Sanaa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which apparently survived the blast with little or no damage. Ancient Sanaa has been continuously inhabited for over 2,500 years and served as a vital trading hub, attracting a diversity of cultures and religions. Much of its architecture reflects Christian influence under Abyssinian rule.

While the 1954 United Nations Hague Convention completely outlawed “cultural cleansing,” the practice has been used repeatedly in Sudan, Gaza, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and many other countries. In April 2003, while U.S. forces guarded the offices of Iraq’s Ministry of Oil, the nearby Iraq National Museum in Baghdad was looted. Some 15,000 artifacts vanished into the black market. “Cultural cleansing” has been used as a military tactic against a targeted population, in order to gain domination over that society; but it must also be seen as an attack against all of humanity, in the latter case, stripping Iraq of its common culture, identity, history, and soul.