It’s with extremely heavy hearts that we share the news that Sudan’s National Museum has been extensively looted.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia has used the museum as a military base (and allegedly its grounds as a cemetery) since the beginning of the war in April 2023. Many have feared for the safety of the museum and its collection since then but have been unable to verify or evaluate the scale of the damage done until the RSF were pushed out of the city by the Sudanese Armed Forces and the grounds could be safely re-entered.
And now we are finding out the true extent of the looting and damage. Reported initially across social media and then in the Sudan Tribune, international outlets such as the Guardian have now picked up the news.
As many of you know, the museum housed thousands of objects from the Pharaonic, Kushite, Christian and Islamic periods of Sudan’s history, most recovered by archaeological excavations over the past century and more. Whether they were on display or kept in locked storage rooms, whether they were small or monumental, all objects in the museum’s inventory represent pivotal moments in Sudanese, African and global history.
Many – perhaps most – of these objects are now lost.
Besides the looting, the museum building and infrastructure has also been destroyed: cabinets and walls have been broken, doors smashed down and roofs bombed. Cars and other equipment belonging to the antiquities service, the National Corporation of Antiquities and Museums (NCAM), have also been taken.
Sadly, the National Museum is not the only heritage institution to have suffered during the war. As our team reported for Al-Monitor in June 2024, culture in all its forms has been deliberately targeted by warring factions. So, as the damage assessment continues, news like this will surely keep coming, too.
