As war destroys Yemen’s present, museums struggle to preserve its past

A bronze statue of the main god of the kingdom of Saba, located in what is now the Yemeni province of Marib, lies in a dark and fortified room of the Sanaa National Museum.

The piece was made by a man named Hawtar Athat in the first half of the sixth century BC. It has been lucky enough to survive the latest war in Yemen. Many other artefacts have not.

The Sanaa museum miraculously escaped years of bombing by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in their war against the Houthi group.

“Other areas around the museum were targeted and that led to the destruction of some artefacts and to…