In article <[log in to unmask]>,
  Linda Nakamura <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Shall we also remember that the Iraqi National Museum was plundered and
burned
> in January 1991 at the beginning of the Gulf War by Iranian army troops.  The
> Museum included the only full-scale orginal sailing ship from the third
century
> AD known to exist in the Arab world.  The Museum also lost thousands of blown
> glass objects, written sacred texts, and hundreds of jewelry items--again
most
> dating from the first millenium.
>

 ______________________________ Reply
Separator_________________________________

It is a good thing to remember events involving the destruction of
cultural property, but it is also very important to remember and cite
them accurately. In her posting of April 17, Linda Nakamura mentions a
museum that was destroyed in connection with the 1991 Gulf War, which she
claims was the "Iraqi National Museum, plundered and burned in January
1991 ... by Iranian army troops." She also recalls the loss of a
"full-scale original sailing ship from the third century A.D."

A museum was indeed plundered and burned and a sailing ship destroyed in
the Gulf War. But otherwise the posting is mistaken in every single
detail-- the date, the name and owners of the Museum, and the identity of
those responsible for its destruction are all incorrect as cited.

The museum plundered and burned was in fact the National Museum of Kuwait
(Mathaf al-Kuwayt al-Watani). The destruction was carried out by the
Iraqi army, when Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion Kuwait in August
1990. The destruction was complete long before January 1991 (when US
Pres. Bush launched Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraq's forces out of
Kuwait).

While the museum's buildings were looted and then burned, items from the
museum's collections were packed up and removed to Baghdad as war booty
by the Iraqi authorities. After the war, most of the items taken were
returned to Kuwait under the terms of the armistice. This includes the
greater part of the glass objects, which survived the war (exc. for some
breakage and items otherwise unaccounted for). Among the items that
perished during the Iraqi invasion were the Museum's fixed installations,
including the traditional Gulf sailing ship (from the 18th century, not
the 3rd century A.D.!) that was displayed on the National Museum's
grounds.

Iran may be the standard source of evildoing in Hollywood thrillers these
days, but the Iranian army had absolutely nothing to do with this sad
affair, since Iran stayed entirely out of the 1991 Gulf War.

For the full story of the ordeal of the National Museum of Kuwait during
the 1990-1991 war (incl. documentary photos of the burned ship and museum
buildings), see the following publication:

Construction and Distruction [sic!]: Kuwait National Museum (1957-1991).
(Kuwait: Department of Antiquity & Museums, Kuwait National Museum,
1993). 16 pp. : col. ill. ; 23 cm.


Andras Riedlmayer
Fine Arts Library
Fogg Art Museum
Harvard University
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