Organization:
National Council on US-Arab Relations
National Council on Arab Relations Event Promotional Image
REMOTE
Years of crisis and war in Yemen have made the country’s rich archaeological sites and museums dangerously vulnerable. Museums have been destroyed and the looting of archaeological sites is ongoing. Many stolen objects have been illegally smuggled out of Yemen and sold. The depletion of these cultural artifacts represents an erasure of Yemen’s rich and vibrant cultural history.
In the United States, there have been coalitions formed among countries and organizations to preserve cultural heritage items. In 2023, the Republic of Yemen Government announced agreements with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C., and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York where Yemen reclaimed ownership of stolen objects, but made custody arrangements for their short-term storage and exhibition in the United States. New partnerships have emerged that are working to securely repatriate treasures of history to the people of Yemen
