Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab Rapid Report: Damage to the Sudan Natural History Museum (17 May 2023)

In this report the Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab (CHML) with Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative (SCRI) confirmed significant damage to the Sudan Natural History Museum (also referred to as the University of Khartoum’s Natural History Museum) in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. 

Using high-resolution satellite imagery, this report: 1) identified significant damage to the museum’s main building (right image, yellow arrow); 2) determined that the damage occurred on 19 April 2023; and 3) identified only one other building within the block that sustained damage at the same time (right image, orange arrow). Imagery details of the museum indicate damage from fire.   

Cite this report: Bassett, H. F., Gunter-Bassett, M., Welsh, W., Fitzgerald, K., Maher, A., Aronson, J., Cil, D., Hanson, K., Averyt, K., Carroll, C., Wegener, C., and Daniels, B. I. (2023). Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab Rapid Report: Damage to the Sudan Natural History Museum (17 May 2023). Virginia Museum of Natural History, Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab; University of Maryland, Center for International Development and Conflict Management; Penn Museum, Penn Cultural Heritage Center; and Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative. DOI: 10.25573/data.22932470.