Francesca Maria Lorenzini

The targeted destruction of cultural heritage in conflict zones

The museum halls of Sudan are filled with the echo of gunfire, a setting that might seem peculiar for a battlefield until you follow the paper trail. It isn’t just about territory; it is about the assets inside. As journalist and archaeologist Sophie Constantin explains in this week’s episode, the logic is as grim as it is efficient: you fight in a museum because, five months later, those looted artifacts become the currency of war on eBay.

This is the foundation of “culturicide,” a strategy redefining modern warfare. We’ve been conditioned to view the bombing of a mosque or the gutting of a library as “collateral damage,” an unfortunate byproduct of a failing state. But it is the opposite. It is the intentional erasure of a people’s soul without necessarily taking their lives: a way to kill a culture so that even if the people survive, they have nothing to return to.

Consider the “digital resistance” emerging from the rubble. In both Gaza and Sudan, a younger generation has realized that when ancient stones are ground to dust, the only way to save the past is to upload it. Using smartphones to meticulously document sites before they vanish, they are building a digital heritage that no bomb can reach.

In our conversation, Constantin unpacks why we cannot truly cover a conflict without talking about the dust of its museums. If you want to understand where these regions are heading, you have to understand the calculated war being waged against where they’ve been.

Listen to the full conversation wherever you get your podcasts
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