What have we here? Colonial destruction and looting

This is the other side of the violence in Palestine and Lebanon—an assault on history and identity—that we have not yet started talking about.

My son Deniz and I climbed the stairs on the left side of the Great Court and stepped into Room 35.

There’s something arresting about seeing them all together at once, side by side in a softly lit room. It feels as though you’ve stumbled into a hidden tableau—a secret desire, a veiled performance, a buried triumph, or an obscured carnage.

Something not far removed from a crime scene. And you, standing there, feel as though you’re on the verge of unravelling it. The room is filled with clues—enough to churn your stomach.

The space was packed. Each display cabinet was surrounded by at least five people, tightly pressed together, their heads bent to read the notes accompanying the objects.

One label posed a provocative question: ‘It is interesting that this chapter doesn’t crop up much in popular history. Which history is more important? Is that this monarch was a Catholic or a Protestan…