>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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>
>-------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
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Bravo Andras Riedlmayer. May I also refer Ms-Information to Art News,
December, 1990, pps. 85-86 for a more contemporary survey of this
mis-attributed misdeed? There is not enough fact-checking around. One only
hopes it doesnt extend to captions and catalogues...

Michael Bogle
Hyde Park Barracks Museum
Queens Square
Sydney Australia
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