By Ann Hitchcock
This article was published in Museum News May/June 2004.
A related article "Casualties of War: The Looting of the Iraq Museum" by Matthew Bogdanos was published in March/April 2006.
The news of the looting of the Iraqi National Museum from April 10-12, 2003, was shocking to the world. But to those of us involved in heritage preservation, it was especially alarming. Our hearts reached out to our Iraqi colleagues, and the worldwide professional response was spontaneous and swift. Within days, several national and international organizations held meetings and began to establish databases to track Iraqi cultural property and plan fact-finding tours. These efforts continue.
After a disaster, it's logical to consider: What if this happened to us? How would we fare? Now that plans for recovery are taking shape, cultural heritage professionals around the world can step back and consider the lessons that have emerged through the fog of war. How might these lessons apply to other disasters - natural and otherwise- that pose a threat to museum collections?
Lesson 1: Museums, libraries, and historic sites are symbols of authority.
Although personal profit may have motivated many of the looters of the Iraqi National Museum, anger at Sadaam Hussein's regime and the Ba'athist Party was probably also a factor. According to Donny George, who was research director,1 Iraqi State Board of Antiquities, which operates the museum:
The people saw the Americans firing on the gates of Saddam's palaces and then opening the doors to the people and saying: "Come and take this stuff, it's yours now." So they started, and it became a sort of rage as they attacked every government building. I don't make excuses but, you know, after 30 years of a regime like that, pressure builds up on people.2
Throughout history, cultural collections have been considered war booty and museums, of course, are the places where national treasures are stored. There can be little doubt that collections and museums are symbols of the ruling authority. Similarly, archaeological sites are part of a country's cultural patrimony, protected by law. Saddam Hussein understood this and, in fact, rebuilt the ancient cities of Babylon and Ninevah in an attempt to validate his regime.3 In Iraq, staff have evacuated the collections of the National Museum several times, beginning with the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.4 In this country, after Sept. 11, 2001, the National Park Service increased security at its iconic sites, such as Independence Hall and the Washington Monument - all highly vulnerable national symbols.
Lesson 2: Early news of war or disaster is often wrong (in unpredictable ways.)
Acting precipitously can be a political liability and a catalyst for disharmony. On April 12 and in the weeks that followed, news reports claimed that looters had taken 170,000 artifacts from the National Museum. Scholars called the looting the worst cultural disaster in the last 500 years - "a tragedy that has no parallel in world history; it is as if the Uffizi, the Louvre, or all the museums of Washington, D.C., had been wiped out in one fell swoop."5 Three members of President George W. Bush's Cultural Property Advisory Committee resigned; the chair cited "the wanton and preventable destruction" of Iraq's National Museum of Antiquities.6
However, the initial figure of 170,000 lost objects was followed by drastically lower and some higher numbers in later reports before U.S. and Iraqi museum officials clarified the original misunderstanding. Donny George explained:
There was a mistake. Someone asked us what is the number of pieces in the whole collection. We said over 170,000, and they took that as the number lost. Reporters came in and saw empty shelves and reached the conclusion that all was gone. But before the war, we evacuated all of the small pieces and emptied the showcases except for fragile or heavy material that was difficult to move.7
At the end of July 2003, that figure was estimated at just over 13,5008 and remained near that level into September.9 Some journalists and at least one professional colleague have been critical of Iraqi museum officials for not correcting the misunderstanding earlier.10
As cultural heritage professionals, we cannot succumb to the media's 24/7 desire for headlines that "shock and awe." The first news is often wrong and it may be prudent to wait before making definitive decisions. Incorrect interpretations of statements should be corrected immediately. In addition, designating a single museum staff person or office as a primary press contact helps ensure consistency of information.
Lesson 3: Complete and updated documentation is essential for accountability.
From press reports, we now know the Iraqi National Museum has much more than 170,000 artifacts listed on its inventory. Thousands either have not been catalogued or were set aside in a ground-floor "study collection" storeroom for researchers to examine. One looted storage room included 10 steel trunks contained unnumbered material from recent digs.11 The total collection may consists of around 500,000 objects.12
Initial reports implied that inventory records were lost or burned.13 The museum's officials said those reports were untrue: "A lot of our paper records are safe. Most of the computerized data we had backed up," according to Donny George.14 One report noted that the museum's attempt to create a reliable inventory was complicated by the lack of detailed records.15 Another said the museum staff was methodically going through the catalogue of the collection, index card by index card, without the benefits of computers.16 Questions have arisen as to when objects may have disappeared from the museum, with reports suggesting that some objects had been relocated for safekeeping long before April 2003.17 Institutions that previously partnered with the Iraqi National Museum on archaeological projects are working to reconstruct object databases, but apparently the museum's index cards and master ledger book are the most complete record of the collections.
Documenting the loss of an item that is not on an inventory list is virtually impossible. Documenting the loss of an inventoried item that has not been catalogued, described, photographed, or illustration is challenging. Catalogue records and inventory lists must be current to be useful and similar care should be taken to document archaeological and other cultural sites.
Museums must do annual inventories to verify the objects and their records. For example, an annual inventory might include a 100-percent survey of the most significant and high-value items and a random sample of the remainder of the collection. An annual inventory will reveal damage and losses that may have occurred without the curator's notice and eliminate suspicions that missing objects went unreported prior to a disaster.
Copies of electronic and paper records should be stored in at least one off-site location. Many museums maintain this kind of duplication but often in the same city. In the event of a widespread disaster, such as war, even having duplicates in other cities may not help. In the case of Iraq, museums would have needed to entrust copies of their records to museums in other countries.
Placing records and images on the Web for public access is another option. If the Iraqi museum had developed such a Web site, the lists needed by police, customs and military officials, and the press would have been instantly available. Similarly, posting collection statistics online can help eliminate misunderstandings after disasters. The Web site would need to be "mirrored" on more than one server or backed up on high-capacity tapes, in additional and distant locations, in case power and functionality are lost at the primary site.
Lesson 4: An emergency operations plan is critical.
Staff and visitors need to know what to do and where to go, and staff need to know how to protect the collections. Parts of emergency operations plans are often confidential so that other professionals and the public are unlikely to see the full scope of a museum's plan. Sometimes evacuation is appropriate; sometimes protecting the collections in place is best.
The staff of the Iraqi National Museum is experienced in both evacuating and protecting collections in place. As the museum authorities noted, the experience of recent wars made them experts in safeguarding antiquities. They had evacuated the museum many times. Their strategy was never to tell other staff-not even the minister of culture-when or where they were moving items. In the past, only 10 people knew and they were all under oath.18 In the 1970s and 1980s, the collections of the National Museum of Beirut largely survived the fighting because of the successful strategies of deception and physical protection that the museum's director adopted: He announced the removal to safe storage of material that was still, in fact, in the museum's basement.19 The Iraqi museum staff removed easily portable items from the galleries and secure and padded others. They also moved some items from museum storage to off-site locations. Clearly, the damage and loss would have been much greater had all the collections been housed in the museum.
Large museums are vulnerable. They are big targets and evacuation is challenging. Museums must identify, in advance, evacuation locations and means of transportation to those locations. If they can disperse their collections into multiple locations as part of their regular operations, they lessen the risk of a catastrophic loss. The architecturally imposing building that generally houses the exhibits is the symbol of authority and the prime target. Storage and work areas that are physically separated from the main building are at lower risk. Museums also reduce their risk by lending large portions of collections to other institutions on a long-term basis for use in exhibits and research.
Lesson 5: A broad-based constituency reduces the risk of loss.
Citizens who have a sense of pride and ownership in a museum, library, or archaeological site are more likely to protect it than attack it. Even if they do not visit the museum or read the library's books, they may appreciate its role in the community and the cultural or natural heritage that it preserves. When the librarian at Basra's Central Library knew she had only a few hours left to salvage the remaining books that had not yet been systematically evacuated, she turned to the owner of the empty restaurant next door and asked for help. He and his brothers and employees, and soon other shopkeepers, began moving the books and ancient manuscripts into the restaurant and other shops. The library later burned, but 70 percent of the collections had been saved. The librarian said, "The people who carried the books, not all of them were educated. Some of them could not write or could not read, but they knew they were precious books."20
Last year, at the pillaged site of Nimrud, a U.S. sergeant asked a guard, "Why, now that people are liberated, would they want to destroy the history of Iraq?" The guard's response: "We asked them the same thing. They said this nation gave them nothing. They cursed its history."21
The message is clear. Heritage preservation depends on the ability of governments, museums, and related organizations to serve and build constituencies in the population at large. No group should feel disenfranchised or left behind. Heritage preservation, to be successful, must have meaning for everyone and be the concern of all.
Lesson 6: When all else fails, follow your heart.
In Baghdad, many were motivated to steal because they could not bear to watch the destruction of their history. Just over two weeks after the looting, Donny George reported that up to 50 objects a day, which local people "removed for safe-keeping," had been returned to the museum.22 Early reports (later denied) said staff members took some of the more valuable items home and returned them as the situation began to stabilize.23
Perhaps the story that best illustrates the lesson of following your heart is that of a 33-year-old Iraqi pianist who watched in horror as looters ransacked the museum. He said he decided to do the same-not for personal gain but to hide the antiquities until they could be safely returned. He said he remembered lessons in Iraqi history from his school days. He and two relatives filled two vanloads. At home he wrapped the objects to protect them and called Donny George, who told him to keep them until the museum was secure.24
Lessons Applied
The mission to preserve the world's cultural heritage is a daunting race against time. Wars take a terrible toll, of course, but less dramatic factors, such as pests and the environment, are more persistent threats. The role of the cultural heritage professional is to minimize that toll so that the greatest number of generations can enjoy the benefit from the record of the past.
These lessons remind us that complacency is not acceptable. We may advance the preservation of the world's heritage if we take these lessons to heart and act upon them. As cultural heritage professionals we need to share these lessons from Iraq with government leaders, those who sponsor heritage preservation work, and the general public. We all need to work together in this race against time.
References
1. He is now acting director general of the Museums Department.
2. Ascherson, Neal. "Iraq and Ruin," The Guardian, May 2, 2003.
3. MacFarquhar, Neil. "Hussein's Babylon: A Beloved Atrocity," New York Times, Aug. 19, 2003.
4. Faramarzi, Scheherezade. "Archaeologists Counting Missing Iraq Artifacts Say About One-Tenth Returned," Canadian Press, Canada.com News, July 8, 2003.
5. Aaronovitch, David. "Lost from the Baghdad Museum: Truth," The Guardian, June 10, 2003.
6. Richard, Paul. "Bush Panel Members Quit Over Looting," Washington Post, April 17, 2003.
7. Aaronovitch, David. "Lost from the Baghdad Museum: Truth," The Guardian, June 10, 2003.
8. Lawler, Andrew. "Mayhem in Mesopotamia," Science, vol. 301, Aug. 1, 2003.
9. International Information Programs, U. S. Department of State. "Thousands of Missing Artifacts From Iraqi Museum Recovered," Washington File, Sept. 10, 2003.
10. Aaronovitch, David. "Lost from the Baghdad Museum: Truth," The Guardian, June 10, 2003.
11. Gugliotta, Guy. "Looters Stole 6,000 Artifacts," Washington Post, June 21, 2003.
12. Lawler, Andrew. "Mayhem in Mesopotamia," Science, vol. 301, Aug. 1, 2003.
13. Jehl, Douglas and Elizabeth Becker. "Scholars Devastated by Sacking of Museum," San Diego Union Tribune and New York Times News Service, April 16, 2003.
14. Bailey, Martin. "Nimrud Gold Treasures 'Safe,' Dr. Donny George Gives the First Detailed Assessment of the Looting to The Art Newspaper," The Art Newspaper, n.d. (ca. April 29, 2003).
15. Reel, Monte. "Slowly, Loot is Being Returned to Museum," Washington Post, April 24, 2003.
16. Booth, William, and Guy Gugliotta. "All Along, Most Iraqi Relics Were 'Safe and Sound,'" Washington Post, June 9, 2003.
17. Cruickshank, Dan. "What Really Happened at the Baghdad Museum?" The Guardian, June 19, 2003.
18. Faramarzi, Scheherezade. "Archaeologists Counting Missing Iraq Artifacts Say About One-Tenth Returned," Canadian Press, Canada.com News, July 8, 2003.
19. Brodie, Neil. "Focus on Iraq: Spoils of War," Archaeology, Vol. 56, No. 4, July/August.
20. Dewan, Shaila K. "After the War: The Librarian; Books Spirited to Safety Before Iraq Library Fire," New York Times, July 27, 2003.
21. Salopek, Paul. "Looters Go to Source to Steal Iraq Artifacts," Chicago Tribune, May 7, 2003.
22. Gibbons, Fiachra. "Experts Mourn the Lion of Nimrud, Looted as Troops Stood by," The Guardian, April 30, 2003.
23. Booth, William, and Guy Gugliotta. "All Along, Most Iraqi Relics Were 'Safe and Sound,'" Washington Post, June 9, 2003.
24. Reel, Monte. "Slowly, Loot is Being Returned to Museum," Washington Post, April 24, 2003.
Ann Hitchcock is chief curator of the National Park Service. An earlier version of this article ran in the December 2003 issue of The George Wright Forum (www.georgewright.org).
