Schlagwort-Archiv: Khartoum

Museums and Heritage in Sudan

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by Huda Magzoub Elbashir, October 2025

Opinion of Officials on the Attack, Theft, and Looting of the Sudan National Museum:

Dr. Ghalia Garinabi, Director General of the Sudanese National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM), described the incident as a „humanitarian catastrophe“ that poses a significant threat to Sudan’s cultural heritage. She expressed her deep regret over the incident and condemned the looting of the museum.

Details of the Attack and Theft:

  • The museum was subjected to extensive looting and destruction, with over 100,000 artifacts stolen, including gold pieces, jewelry, and valuable historical artifacts.
  • Some of the stolen artifacts are believed to have been smuggled out of Sudan, with some spotted in neighboring countries like South Sudan.
  • The museum suffered significant damage to its infrastructure, including the destruction of laboratories and workshops.

Reactions and Efforts:

  • International Cooperation: Sudanese authorities are working with international organizations to recover the stolen artifacts and hold those responsible accountable.
  • Investigations: Authorities are conducting investigations to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.
  • Awareness: Efforts are being made to raise awareness about the importance of preserving Sudan’s cultural heritage and combating artifact smuggling.

Dr. Ikhlas Abdel Latif, Director of Museums Administration and Head of the Unit for Tracking and Recovering Stolen Artifacts, described the incident as a „great calamity“ and stated that it was a systematic theft by the Rapid Support Forces. She noted that the attackers targeted the most valuable and lightweight artifacts, and destroyed some that they couldn’t carry, reflecting their barbaric treatment of Sudan’s heritage.

Abdel Hai Al-Sawai, Director of the Archaeological Discovery Department at the Sudanese National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM), believes that Sudan’s antiquities have been exposed to significant risks due to the war, especially in Khartoum. He emphasized that the National Museum in Khartoum was the most affected, looted, and stolen, as it contains many eras of Sudan’s ancient history, in addition to the warehouses that hold thousands of artifacts from various eras.

Impact of the War on Museums and Antiquities:

  • Destruction of Museums: Many museums and archaeological sites outside the capital were damaged, including the Sultan Ali Dinar Museum in Darfur.
  • Looting of Antiquities: Many priceless historical artifacts were looted from the National Museum in Khartoum, and many other archaeological sites were affected.
  • Assessment and Restoration Efforts: Efforts are underway to assess and evaluate the damage, with plans to restore damaged museums and recover stolen artifacts.

International Condemnation:

  • United Nations Human Rights Office: Condemned the gross human rights violations in Sudan, including attacks on museums and archaeological sites.
  • European Union: Strongly condemned the gross human rights violations in Sudan and called for the protection of cultural heritage and archaeological sites.
  • United States: Condemned the attack on civilians and cultural heritage.

Scorched Ruins and Remnants of the Sultan Ali Dinar Museum in El Fasher city was partially destroyed due to shelling in October 2025. This attack sparked widespread condemnation and was considered by authorities and international organizations as a serious violation of Sudan’s cultural heritage.

The museum housed valuable artifacts and important historical documents, and its destruction is a significant loss to Sudan’s heritage.

The African Center for Justice and Peace Studies expresses its deep concern over the systematic targeting of cultural and historical sites by warring parties in Sudan. The destruction of historical sites by warring parties is a deliberate act aimed at erasing the history of the Sudanese people, particularly in the Darfur region, and attempting to eliminate symbols that unite communities in the region.

Support from Global Museums:

Global museums can provide effective support to the Sudan National Museum through:

  • Technical and Expert Support: Providing experts in archaeology and restoration to assess damage and identify stolen artifacts.
  • Financial Support: Funding projects to restore the museum and recover stolen artifacts.
  • Diplomatic Support: Pressuring governments and international organizations to protect Sudan’s cultural heritage and recover stolen artifacts.
  • Media Support: Raising awareness about the importance of preserving Sudan’s cultural heritage and combating the importance of combating artifact smuggling.

Museums, antiquities, heritage, and the ongoing war in Sudan

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By Mrs. Huda Magzoub Al-Bashir, Senior Curator of the Sudan National Museum, Khartoum (status: 14th Oct. 2025)

Mechanisms for protecting museums and antiquities in Sudan

The mechanisms for protecting museums and antiquities in Sudan are divided into two parts:

Firstly: The mechanism for protecting the building with its contents. This is further divided into two parts in terms of importance:

1. Archaeological, historical, and heritage buildings, where preservation is more important and requires greater care and caution. This also includes museums and field museums.

2. Museum collections, archaeological, historical, and heritage collections, whose preservation depends on the preservation of the building in which they are displayed, after careful selection of the site, method, and materials of construction, and the importance and concern of the state in doing so.

Secondly: The state’s mechanism for paying attention to museums, antiquities, and heritage, as a symbol of national sovereignty and identity, and any negative interference with it requires swift and necessary response.

Prior planning:

Establishing a museum under state sponsorship requires prior planning to protect it from internal and external threats and to adopt a sound and effective method for preserving it.

Mechanism based on supporting national security awareness to protect antiquities and museums and the right to swift intervention through those in charge of managing museums, antiquities, and heritage in Sudan, by following pre-planned methods to protect archaeological collections in museums and rescue them to safe areas or routes.

Mechanism for preserving museum collections:

This mechanism is the primary work mechanism in this field and is represented by:

– Museum collections themselves, in terms of collecting, restoring, documenting, displaying, publishing, preserving, and making copies of them.

– In this context, when feeling insecure, relying on the experiences of some countries that have previously preserved the originals of collections, antiquities, and artifacts in safe places and displayed copies of them to avoid theft or attacks, even if it requires returning them to the ground or to secret storage until safety is ensured.

Insurance mechanism through security agencies recognized and approved by the state to protect museums, antiquities, and heritage in Sudan.

These security agencies must receive adequate training to qualify them to preserve and protect collections and their locations, including museums.

Armed defense mechanism:

This mechanism is only allowed to be used in case of an attack on museums or their contents. It requires a deadly defense by specialized agencies to do this work and make the security of museum facilities part of national security.

Avoiding exposure of archaeological museums and their heritage to looting:

To avoid exposure of museums with rare archaeological collections to looting, especially in cases of armed threat, requires prior efforts based on:

– The state’s interest in its heritage and collections, whose loss would affect the state’s dignity, strength, and prestige.

– Several aspects and methods can be followed to avoid exposure of museums, antiquities, and museum collections to looting, theft, and aggression:

    1. Increasing and developing insurance and its methods, according to modern techniques of theft, and benefiting from the experiences of other countries.

    2. Addressing and cutting off corruption in all aspects related to the management of museums, antiquities, and heritage in Sudan.

    3. Financial preparedness can play an important role in avoiding exposure of museums to looting, by providing the necessary resources for protection and security.

    4. Working continuously to raise cultural awareness of the importance of museums, especially among security agencies, and instilling a sense of national duty to defend this heritage.

    5. Seeking international cooperation and assistance from organizations concerned with protecting museums, antiquities, and heritage worldwide.

    6. Establishing laws and deterrent penalties that must be put in place in agreement with the state and adopted internationally in case of exposure of museums, antiquities, and national heritage to looting, especially by armed parties.

Back in 2020: a short visit to the Sudan National Museum in Khartoum

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A year ago today, the last official steps of our 2020 season of the MUAFS project were carried out, I submitted all paperwork to the Sudanese authorities and we were getting ready to leave Khartoum – of course not knowing that a) a sandstorm will delay our flight out, b) because of the extra night in Khartoum we will just catch the last flight to Munich from Istanbul before flights were closed in Turkey because of the pandemic and c) it will take us more than a year to return to Sudan.

One of my personal rituals I have developed in the last 10 years is that on the occasion of my last day in Khartoum, I always try to visit the Sudan National Museum, at least the garden with its wonderful monuments, but preferably the galleries with its treasures as well.

The entrance of the museum with rams of Kawa showing king Taharqa. Photo: J. Budka.

My first visit to the museum was exactly 20 years ago – but the building and its treasures impress and inspire me deeply every time anew. The Sudan National Museum in Khartoum clearly belongs to my favourite museums, together with the splendid Aswan Nubian Museum and the Luxor Museum in Egypt.

A glimpse into the ground floor gallery housing Egyptian, Napatan and Meroitic statues and much more. Photo: J. Budka.

It is always a great pleasure to give newcomers of the team a special tour though the museum – last year this was Jessica and we had the luck that our dear friend and colleague Huda Magzoub joined us. This photo shows us in the entrance alley to the museum together with one of the marvelous Meroitic lion sandstone statues of Basa, representations of the lion-god Apedemak.

The last selfie I took back in Khartoum in 2020: Huda, Jessica and me in front of one of the Basa lions.

I can just recommend to everyone: do not miss this marvelous museum and please calculate several hours for your visit – the ground floor gallery is full of important objects from all areas of Sudan, from Palaeolithic to Post-Meroitic times. And the upper floor gallery focusing on the Christian Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia is equally a must, featuring the world-famous wall paintings from the cathedral in Faras (a very useful guide through the collection is available online for free).

One of the impressive ceramic vessels in the museum: a painted Meroitic fine ware bowl. Photo: J. Budka.
Another stunning object from Meroitic times: a glass chalice of highest quality from a tomb in Sedeigna. Photo: J. Budka.

Like at Aswan, I think the most charming aspect of the museum is its garden. Here, one can visit complete temples (the splendid New Kingdom temples of Buhen, Semna-West and Kumma) and one rock-cut tomb (of Djehuti-Hotep) but also a large number of statues, including monumental royal statues, reliefs and rock art respectively rock inscriptions are exhibited.

The entrance alley of the Museum flanked with Meroitic lion statues. Photo: J. Budka.

I very much hope that my yearly ritual of a stroll through this wonderful collection and enjoying the view of the monuments in the garden will be possible again soon, hopefully somewhen later this year.