BAGHDAD: The Iraq National Museum, the pride of the nation known as the cradle of civilization, reopened yesterday almost six years after its ancient treasures were looted in the chaotic aftermath of the US-led invasion.
With its polished marble floors, glass display cases filled with gold coins, pottery and jewelry, and freshly painted pale blue walls, the Baghdad museum is again home to a wealth of artifacts, some dating back thousands of years.
Tourism and Antiquities Minister Qahtan Abbas, before an audience of invited guests including Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, said about 6,000 items had so far been returned from inside Iraq, from its neighbors and around the world.
A total of 15,000 statues and other valuable artifacts were looted in the April 2003 ransacking of the institution long known as the National Museum that has been repeatedly forced by conflict to close its doors. “We want to make our museum a place which will be at the forefront of international museums. There’s a long road ahead of us. There are a lot of discoveries still being made at archaeological sites,” said Al-Maliki.
He called on archaeologists to help make Iraq a center for research into the history of mankind. The inauguration itself was a red-carpet VIP media event, coming the morning after the Oscars in Hollywood, but with a Baghdad flavor: Tight security and snipers posted on rooftops. After the fall of Saddam’s statue regime on April 9, 2003, well-equipped gangs of looters swarmed on the museum and countless historical sites around Iraq, which prides itself as the cradle of civilization.
The museum, which has stood at its present location since 1966, last year completed the renovation of its Islamic and Assyrian halls, thanks to a one-million-euro ($1.1 million) donation and technical help from Italy.
It is also displaying artifacts from the Sumerian and Babylonian eras, although only eight of its 26 halls have been opened in the initial phase. “Work in progress” signs stand outside the closed galleries.
The archaeological wealth of Iraq, historically known as Mesopotamia, shows some of the first evidence of complex urban life appearing within its borders around 3,000 B.C.
