Civil war, museum and iconoclasm in Northern Ethiopia: Dessie and Merho Museums in focus

Abstract

ABSTRACT Ethnically or religiously motivated civil war and the subsequent iconoclastic acts are practical challenges that museums face in the twenty-first century. This article briefly discusses the destruction of museums during the Northern Ethiopia civil war of 2020–2022. The example of iconoclasm in Dessie and Merho Museums is explored to provide a lens through which deeper understandings can be drawn on why and how iconoclasm was practiced during the Northern Ethiopia civil war. The study employs qualitative research methods, including extensive systematic field observation, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. The study's findings indicate that the collections of Dessie and Meriho Museums were deliberately damaged and pillaged. Ancient artifacts, photographs, documents and paintings housed in these museums were vandalized, sprinkled on the wall of the museums or pillaged. Museum objects of Dessie and Merho were destroyed deliberately in haste and violence, and the information consequently lost with them is irreplaceable.