Implications of Damage to Sudanese Cultural Property

Since the start of hostilities in Sudan in April 2023, reports of looting of the Sudan National Museum in Khartoum have circulated, but recent news suggests that the damage may have reached new levels. UNESCO has issued a call for all parties to comply with international humanitarian law, and for those in the public and art market to refrain from participating in the sale, import, or export of Sudanese cultural property. UNESCO’s press release can be read here.

A recent article in The Conversation explains what archaeology professor Mohamed Albdri Sliman Bashir feels is at stake with the loss of the museum’s priceless artifacts: “The antiquities we lost were not just objects, but expressions of shared experiences that united the different communities in Sudan. Future generations risk inheriting a fractured history, instead of a nuanced understanding that takes into account different perspectives… The loss goes beyond the tangible; it has profound implications for our collective memory and the ethos we pass on.”

Image of the Sudan National Museum in Khartoum, by David Stanley, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license).