On 7 April 2026, when Donald Trump posted on Truth Social: "A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again; I don't want that to happen, but it probably will…", it sent shockwaves around the world, with the United Nations issuing statements of deep concern. Nations at war risk collateral damage. Often reparations and rebuilding efforts can revive and regenerate infrastructure, including bridges, power plants, roads, airports, residential and other facilities. However, the most vulnerable civilisational markers are museums, archives, cultural institutions and heritage sites that hold the essence of civilisational past and the collective layers of memories that define values and culture. Intended or unintended destruction of repositories of material culture starves the very soul of a nation and irreversibly damages mankind.
The vulnerability of cultural property was catastrophically demonstrated during World War II. The aerial bombardment resulted in the destruction of irreplaceable historic centres across Europe, including Dresden and Coventry. International frameworks like the 1954 Hague Convention were created to classify attacks on cultural property as war crimes and ensure comprehensive measures outlined in 40 distinct Articles ranging from occupation to protection. UNESCO documents wartime damage, prevents illicit artefact trafficking, and assists local and international law enforcement agencies in value assessment and safely evacuating collections before conflicts peak.
High-explosive munitions and urban warfare inevitably impact historic structures located within combat zones. Fires and combat heavily damaged and burnt the Iraq National Library and Archive, destroying priceless historic documents during the Iraq war. Coalition military forces set up a base directly over the ruins of Babylon, causing severe ground compaction and pollution to ancient foundations. Destruction of symbols or iconoclasm belonging to an enemy or an alternative ideology is frequently used to erase history, as was witnessed in the harrowing defacing of the Bamiyan Buddhas forever. Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar ordered the demolition in February 2001. Soldiers used anti-aircraft guns, artillery, rockets, and dynamite sticks drilled into the sandstone cliffs to shatter the 38-metre and 55-metre statues from 6 CE (the sixth year of the Common Era). Looting, pillage of museum treasures and Illicit Trade often follow chaos and power vacuum in the transitioning aftermath of wars and armed conflicts.
The only elusive measure of success to the appeals, pleas and implorations is accountability under international law. With the International Criminal Court not quite universally accepted as the effective metric or enforcer, the nebulous uncertainty remains unchecked, unfettered and unenforceable, upending the axiom that intent triumphs law.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, there are 130 armed, active, ongoing conflicts around the world, impacting 60 countries with over 204 million people displaced or living under militia control. Not only does it risk damage to irreplaceable cultural property, but it also risks robbing a generation of their heritage even as it takes away a slice of our collective identity as a civilisation. The very idea of cultural identity is wrapped in the gossamer magical amalgam of tangible and intangible heritage that creates the chorus to the eternal songs of immortality. Take away the songs and we are but mere discordant notes writhing in self-induced ruins of time.
The author is an internationally acclaimed museum thinker, scholar, author, designer, founding director of multiple museums and emeritus board member of International Council of Museums for the US and Canada