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Iconic Tapestry of Picasso's 'Guernica' Is Back at the UN

In this Jan. 2, 2018, file photo, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley walks past a tapestry woven by Atelier J. de la Baume-Durrbach of Pablo Picasso's "Guernica" as she arrives to speak to reporters at United Nations headquarters. (AP)
In this Jan. 2, 2018, file photo, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley walks past a tapestry woven by Atelier J. de la Baume-Durrbach of Pablo Picasso's "Guernica" as she arrives to speak to reporters at United Nations headquarters. (AP)
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Iconic Tapestry of Picasso's 'Guernica' Is Back at the UN

In this Jan. 2, 2018, file photo, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley walks past a tapestry woven by Atelier J. de la Baume-Durrbach of Pablo Picasso's "Guernica" as she arrives to speak to reporters at United Nations headquarters. (AP)
In this Jan. 2, 2018, file photo, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley walks past a tapestry woven by Atelier J. de la Baume-Durrbach of Pablo Picasso's "Guernica" as she arrives to speak to reporters at United Nations headquarters. (AP)

The iconic tapestry of Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica,” which is considered by numerous art critics as perhaps the most powerful anti-war painting in history, returned to its place of honor at the United Nations on Saturday after a year-long absence that angered and dismayed many UN diplomats and staff.

The tapestry of the painting, woven by Atelier J. de la Baume-Durrbach, was re-hung Saturday outside the Security Council, the UN’s most powerful body charged with ensuring international peace and security. Since February 2021, the yellow wall where it had hung had been empty.

The tapestry was commissioned in 1955 by former US vice president and New York governor Nelson Rockefeller and offered to the UN on loan in 1984.

The Rockefeller family donated the land to build the UN complex after the world body was founded on the ashes of World War II, in the words of the UN Charter, “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”

When the United Nations headquarters was undergoing a major renovation starting in 2009, the tapestry was returned to the Rockefeller Foundation for safekeeping. It was reinstalled in September 2013 when the renovations were completed.

Early last year, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Jr., the son of the late vice president and governor who owns the “Guernica” tapestry, notified the United Nations of his intention to retrieve it. The UN returned it to him in February 2021.

Rockefeller said in a statement Saturday that the tapestry was being returned on loan to the United Nations, and he intends to donate the work to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the future.

“The Guernica tapestry with its probing symbolism -- its depiction of horrific aspects of human nature -- wrestles with the cruelty, darkness, and also a seed of hope within humanity.” Rockefeller said in a statement. “The Guernica tapestry is meant to be experienced and interpreted, with Picasso refusing to share its message when asked.”

Rockefeller said he was “delighted and deeply grateful, along with my family for the careful stewardship” of the tapestry by the United Nations and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“I am grateful that the tapestry will be able to continue to reach a broader segment of the world’s population and magnify its ability to touch lives and educate,” he said.

In a Dec. 1, 2021 letter to Rockefeller, the UN said Guterres wrote: “This is most welcome news as we end a difficult year of global hardship and strife.”

“The Guernica tapestry speaks to the world about the urgent need to advance international peace and security,” the UN chief wrote. “We are honored to serve as careful stewards of this one-of-a-kind iconic work – as we draw inspiration from its message.”

The original painting, Picasso’s protest of the bombing of the Basque capital of Guernica during the Spanish civil war, is in Spain.

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Rare Sahara Floods Bring Morocco’s Dried-up South Back to Life

Tourists camp on the shores of Erg Znaigui, a seasonal lake in the village of Merzouga in the Sahara desert in southeastern Morocco on October 20, 2024. (AFP)
Tourists camp on the shores of Erg Znaigui, a seasonal lake in the village of Merzouga in the Sahara desert in southeastern Morocco on October 20, 2024. (AFP)
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Rare Sahara Floods Bring Morocco’s Dried-up South Back to Life

Tourists camp on the shores of Erg Znaigui, a seasonal lake in the village of Merzouga in the Sahara desert in southeastern Morocco on October 20, 2024. (AFP)
Tourists camp on the shores of Erg Znaigui, a seasonal lake in the village of Merzouga in the Sahara desert in southeastern Morocco on October 20, 2024. (AFP)

In Morocco's southeastern desert, a rare downpour has brought lakes and ponds back to life, with locals -- and tourists -- hailing it as a gift from the heavens.

In Merzouga, an attractive tourist town some 600 kilometers (370 miles) southeast of the capital Rabat, the once-parched golden dunes are now dotted with replenished ponds and lakes.

"We're incredibly happy about the recent rains," said Youssef Ait Chiga, a local tour guide leading a group of German tourists to Yasmina Lake nestled amidst Merzouga's dunes.

Khalid Skandouli, another tour guide, said the rain has drawn even more visitors to the tourist area, now particularly eager to witness this odd transformation.

With him, Laetitia Chevallier, a French tourist and regular visitor to the region, said the rainfall has proved a "blessing from the sky".

"The desert became green again, the animals have food again, and the plants and palm trees came back to life," she said.

Locals told AFP the basin had been barren for nearly 20 years.

A man leads his camels along the shores of Yasmina lake, a seasonal lake in the village of Merzouga in the Sahara desert in southeastern Morocco on October 20, 2024. (AFP)

Last year was Morocco's driest in 80 years, with a 48 percent drop in rainfall, according to an October report from the General Directorate of Meteorology (DGM).

But in September, torrential rains triggered floods in southern parts of Morocco, killing at least 28 people, according to authorities.

The rare heavy rains come as the North African kingdom grapples with its worst drought in nearly 40 years, threatening its economically crucial agriculture sector.

Neighboring Algeria saw similar rain and flooding in early September, killing six people.

North African countries currently rank among the world's most water-stressed, according to the World Resources Institute, a non-profit research organization.

The kingdom's meteorological agency described the recent massive rainfall as "exceptional".

It attributed it to an unusual shift of the intertropical convergence zone -- the equatorial region where winds from the northern and southern hemispheres meet, causing thunderstorms and heavy rainfall.

The sun sets behind the dunes at Yasmina lake, a seasonal lake in the village of Merzouga in the Sahara desert in southeastern Morocco on October 20, 2024. (AFP)

- 'Climate change' -

"Everything suggests that this is a sign of climate change," Fatima Driouech, a Moroccan climate scientist, told AFP. "But it's too early to say definitively without thorough studies."

Driouech emphasized the importance of further research to attribute this event to broader climate trends.

Experts say climate change is making extreme weather events, such as storms and droughts, more frequent and intense.

In Morocco's south, the rains have helped partially fill some reservoirs and replenish groundwater aquifers.

But for those levels to significantly rise, experts say the rains would need to continue over a longer period of time.

The rest of the country is still grappling with drought, now in its sixth consecutive year, jeopardizing the agricultural sector that employs over a third of Morocco's workforce.

Tourists take pictures at Yasmina lake, a seasonal lake in the village of Merzouga in the Sahara desert in southeastern Morocco on October 20, 2024. (AFP)

Jean Marc Berhocoirigoin, a 68-year-old French tourist, said he was surprised to find Yasmina Lake replenished. "I hadn't seen these views for 15 years," he said.

Water has also returned to other desert areas such as Erg Znaigui, about 40 kilometers south of Merzouga, AFP reporters saw.

While the rains have breathed life into Morocco's arid southeast, Driouech warns that "a single extreme event can't bring lasting change".

But last week, Morocco's meteorological agency said such downpours could become increasingly frequent, "driven partly by climate change as the intertropical convergence zone shifts further north".