The national museum was deeply affected by the 14 years of war during the First and Second Liberian Civil Wars. According to the director of the museum Caesar Harris approximately 5,000 artifacts were looted during this period and now less than 100 larger artifacts remain. Still intact though is a 250-year-old dining table given as gift from Queen Victoria to Liberia's first President, Joseph Jenkins Roberts. During the war, valuable museum items were often sold to fleeing expatriates and the museum itself came under fire during rebel attacks in 2003. However, although the war severely affected the content of the museum today it also has items which offer an insight into the war itself.