Fourteen of Timbuktu's sixteen inscribed mausoleums destroyed
During the armed-group occupation of northern Mali, mausoleums of the saints in Timbuktu were attacked with picks, hoes and chisels over roughly a fortnight from 30 June 2012, and destruction continued through the year until fourteen of the sixteen inscribed mausoleums had been demolished, along with the sealed door of the Sidi Yahia mosque. The property was placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger the same year. Reconstruction in traditional earthen technique, carried out by local masons with UNESCO support, began in 2014.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Timbuktu · site · Mali
- List of World Heritage in Danger · instrument · Global · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent. This is the standing of the weakest source, not an average.
Cultural Heritage at Risk in Mali: The Destruction of Timbuktu's Mausoleums of Saints
Fourteen of the sixteen mausoleums of saints inscribed as part of the Timbuktu World Heritage property were destroyed during 2012; the property was placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2012; reconstruction in traditional earthen technique with local communities began in 2014.
Getty Publications (chapter by Lazare Eloundou Assomo, UNESCO), in 'Cultural Heritage and Mass Atrocities' · 2022 · Partly verified
https://www.getty.edu/publications/cultural-heritage-mass-atrocities/part-2/14-assomo/ — account by a senior UNESCO World Heritage official of the 2012 destruction and the reconstruction programme
The Prosecutor v. Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi — judgment and sentence
On 27 September 2016 Trial Chamber VIII found Al Mahdi guilty as a co-perpetrator of the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against historic monuments and buildings dedicated to religion — nine mausoleums and one mosque in Timbuktu, attacked between around 30 June and 11 July 2012 — and sentenced him to nine years' imprisonment; the sentence was reduced by two years on 25 November 2021. It was the first ICC case centred on the destruction of cultural heritage.
International Criminal Court, Trial Chamber VIII · 2016-09-27 · Partly verified
https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/icc-trial-chamber-viii-declares-mr-al-mahdi-guilty-war-crime-attacking-historic-and-religious — ICC statement; case information sheet at https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/CaseInformationSheets/Al-MahdiEng.pdf
Recorded on Timbuktu
- Angkor inscribed on the World Heritage List and the danger list on the same day
- Angkor removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger
- Galápagos Islands placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger
- Arabian Oryx Sanctuary deleted — the first site ever removed from the World Heritage List
- Dresden Elbe Valley deleted — the second removal, by a vote of 14 to 5
- Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger
- Fourteen of Timbuktu's sixteen inscribed mausoleums destroyed
- The Temple of Bel at Palmyra destroyed
- ICC convicts Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi for the destruction of Timbuktu's mausoleums
- Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City deleted — the third and most recent removal
- The Committee declines, again, to place Venice on the danger list
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- The Committee declines, again, to place Venice on the danger list · 2023-09
- Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City deleted — the third and most recent removal · 2021-07-21
- ICC convicts Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi for the destruction of Timbuktu's mausoleums · 2016-09-27
- The Temple of Bel at Palmyra destroyed · 2015-08-30
- Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger · 2012
- Dresden Elbe Valley deleted — the second removal, by a vote of 14 to 5 · 2009-06
- Galápagos Islands placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger · 2007
- Arabian Oryx Sanctuary deleted — the first site ever removed from the World Heritage List · 2007