Inside Yemen’s vanishing museums where the past and present collide in a fight for survival

Inside Taiz's National Museum, rows of manuscripts from Yemen's Mutawakkilite Kingdom – which ruled from 1918 to 1962 – are slowly falling apart.

Once kept safe in controlled storage rooms, these irreplaceable documents now face destruction from termites, weevils, and damp air seeping through bomb-damaged walls. The war left the manuscripts brittle, and each rainfall causes the pages to curl and crumble further.

Museum officials admit that the storage rooms are no longer suitable, with collections exposed after years of damage, neglect, and a minimal budget.

"Before the war, we had 45,000 artefacts here," said Ahmed Jassar, archaeological consultant and deputy head of Taiz's General Authority for Antiquities and Museums. "30 per cent have been damaged by climate change. Another 50 to 60 per cent were lost to looting, burning, and theft during the conflict."

Yemen's museums and archaeological sites – already devastated by a decade of war – now face a growing threat from extreme weather.

Rising temperatures, unprecedented flooding, and sandstorms are destroying what the conflict did not, leaving conservators struggling to save what remains of the country's 3,000-year-old heritage.

The damage is not limited to individual artefacts. According to a 2010 field report by the Japan Consortium for International Cooperation on Cultural Heritage, flooding has caused structural damage to multiple museum buildings.

For example, Al-Mukalla Palace in Hadramout, which functions as a museum, has remained closed since the 2008 floods caused cracks in the ceiling and widespread moisture damage to the walls. 

A threatened heritage

When the rains come to Aden, director general of Aden's General Authority for Antiquities and Museums, Mohammad al-Saqqaf, knows what will follow. 

"The water pours through cracks in the building, flooding the exhibition halls," Mohammad told The New Arab. "Humidity levels spike, walls begin to crumble, and salt crystallises everywhere."

Inside Aden National Museum – one of Yemen's oldest – the environment has become a breeding ground for rodents and termites that devour ancient textiles and manuscripts.

The museum has been deteriorating since 2009. Of its 4,000 artefacts, 12 bronze pieces have developed bronze disease, while 500 stone artefacts show advanced salt damage. Some pieces have lost their inscriptions entirely.

"The building has been closed for years without maintenance," Mohammad added. "The cracks have widened, and water damage has accelerated. We stand helpless with our limited resources."

The crisis extends beyond museums. Heavy rains and erosion have damaged historic buildings across Yemen – from the mud-brick towers of Shibam in Hadramout to Taiz’s Cairo Citadel.

Furthermore, buildings have collapsed in UNESCO World Heritage sites, including Old Sana'a, Zabid, and Tarim.

In August, Yemen's Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Muammar al-Eryani, confirmed field reports showing severe damage to Sana'a and Zabid caused by torrential rains and flooding.

“Museums face extreme temperature fluctuations and humidity, which accelerate deterioration of all materials — metals, textiles, manuscripts, stone,” explains international climate consultant Abdelqader al-Kharraz. “Natural disasters like floods and storms pose a double threat — they can destroy the building itself while causing catastrophic damage to collections, especially in coastal areas threatened by rising sea levels.”

The impacts are already visible. Sand dunes have long been encroaching on archaeological sites, leaving many artefacts unexcavated. Green algae and fungi now grow on the citadel walls in Taiz, where war damage has created cracks that allow rainwater to seep directly into the ancient mortar.

Mahboub al-Jaradi, director of the General Authority for Antiquities and Museums in Taiz, describes the combined effects of war and climate.

“Heavy rains have damaged both the National Museum and the Folk Heritage Museum. Rising temperatures cause surface expansion and contraction, creating cracks in walls,” he said. 

The Folk Heritage Museum faces particular challenges. Its war-damaged roof and windows remain unrepaired, allowing rainwater to pour in during storms, encouraging termite infestations and weakening the building's foundation. 

“Historic buildings like al-Muzaffar Mosque and parts of Taiz’s old city walls have all been affected,” Mahboub added. “Sections of the mosque’s domes are damaged, and parts of the Tha’bat wall have collapsed.”

Ahmed points out that damage worsened after Yemen’s war, which played a central role in the destruction. Climate change and rainfall have accelerated deterioration, causing some already weakened buildings to collapse. 

International neglect

Ahmed highlights a crucial turning point when USAID, which had provided nearly a third of the budget for the General Authority for Antiquities and Museums in Taiz, suspended its funding for Yemen’s heritage sites.

"American development assistance was vital for Yemen's cultural heritage," he said. "It funded the restoration of Cairo Citadel and documentation of manuscripts in museums across multiple governorates."

Now, he added, limited support from other organisations is not enough to meet Yemen's vast heritage needs, with both Aden and Taiz heritage authorities operating without any operational budgets.

"We've had no operational funding since the war began," said Mahboub. "We cannot conduct surveys, document archaeological sites, or modernise our museums."

Staff shortages make the crisis worse. Taiz's authority has shrunk from 53 employees before the war to 36 today due to displacement and deaths.

"Employee salaries exist but are minimal – 50,000 to 60,000 Yemeni rials ($37), not even enough for transportation," Mahboub continues. "Our work requires archaeological surveys across multiple districts."

Seeds of hope

Despite overwhelming challenges, heritage authorities in Taiz are working desperately to save their collections.

They have carried out 20 studies of archaeological sites across the governorate, and are preparing engineering assessments to stabilise fragile structures.

In seeking international support to protect these treasures, they have reached out to numerous institutions, including the ALF organisation, the French Fund for the Protection of Antiquities, and the US Embassy.

"We are also implementing a rehabilitation project for Aden Museum, funded by the European Union through UNESCO," said Mohammad. "The first phase ended in early 2021. The second phase began this June."

The restoration has reduced salt damage and water infiltration, although storage facilities still lack climate controls and monitoring equipment.

In Taiz, Mahboub reports progress: "Through our studies and appeals to international heritage organisations, we have managed phased restoration of the National Museum since 2019, with ongoing work at the Folk Heritage Museum."

One international organisation stepping in to provide crucial support is Heritage for Peace, which previously partnered for five years with the Arab Network for Civil Society Organizations for Cultural Heritage Protection (ANSCH) to strengthen Yemeni civil society organisations.

"We implemented a three-year project protecting and restoring Cairo Citadel in Taiz," said Isber Sabrine, president of Heritage for Peace International.

The project, funded by the US State Department's Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, included excavating artefacts from the citadel's destroyed museum.

The organisation also trained five architecture students from the University of the West of England, Bristol, to analyse climate change impacts on Taiz's heritage, particularly Cairo Citadel.

As another rainy season approaches, conservators know time is running out.

"These aren't just artefacts," said Ahmed. "They are irreplaceable records of human civilisation. Every piece we lose is gone forever."

Inside Taiz's National Museum, the Mutawakkilite manuscripts continue their slow decay. Each rainfall brings more moisture through the cracks. Each summer's heat causes more bronze to corrode, more stone to crack, more pages to crumble.

For those fighting to preserve Yemen's heritage, the battle has shifted from protecting against bombs to racing against nature itself – a war they are losing one artefact at a time.

"We survived years of conflict only to watch our heritage dissolve in the rain," Mohammad said, reflecting on the tragedy. 

Nora Fahd is an independent Yemeni journalist based in Taiz, focusing on humanitarian issues and the impact of conflict on culture and communities

This article was published in collaboration with Egab