Yémen. Un patrimoine vandalisé dans un pays en proie au chaos

Résumé En

Yemen. A heritage vandalized in a country in the throes of chaosFor many years, Yemeni heritage has been under three critical threats :• A war waged by an international military coalition headed by Saudi Arabia against Zaydi militias (the ‘Houthis’), which started in March 2015, and caused the destruction of museums, archaeological sites and historical cities ;• Violent Islamist groups whose ideology led to the deliberate destruction of mausoleums and churches, and whose bomb attacks badly damaged historical cities ;• Looters, who have been plundering some of the major archaeological sites for over 20 years, in particular in marginalized and deprived areas where the state control has always been weak.Our purpose is to describe these three phenomena, as well as the succession of events which have led up to this critical situation, and the initiatives of local and international cultural organisations to raise awareness, document damage, collect information, train and provide technical support to the Yemenis who are active on the field.