The Iraq Museum in Baghdad, Iraq
The National Museum of Iraq is a museum located in Baghdad, Iraq. Also known as the Iraq Museum, it contains precious relics from the Mesopotamian, Babylonian and Persian civilization. It was looted during and after the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Despite international efforts, only some of the stolen artifacts were returned. After being closed for many years while being refurbished, and rarely open for public viewing, the museum was officially reopened in February 2015.
After World War I, archaeologists from Europe and the United States began several excavations throughout Iraq. In an effort to keep those findings from leaving Iraq, British traveller, intelligence agent, archaeologist, and author Gertrude Bell began collecting the artifacts in a government building in Baghdad in 1922. In 1926, the Iraqi government moved the collection to a new building and established the Baghdad Antiquities Museum, with Bell as its director. Bell died later that year; the new director was Sidney Smith.
In 1966, the collection was moved again, to a two-story, 45,000-square-meter building in Baghdad's Al-Ṣāliḥiyyah neighborhood in the Al-Karkh district on the east side of the Tigris River. It is with this move that the name of the museum was changed to the National Museum of Iraq. It was originally known as the Baghdad Archaeological Museum.
Due to the archaeological riches of Mesopotamia, its collections are considered to be among the most important in the world and has a fine record of scholarship and display. The British connection with the museum — and with Iraq — has resulted in exhibits always being displayed bilingually, in both English and Arabic. It contains important artifacts from the over 5,000-year-long history of Mesopotamia in 28 galleries and vaults.
The collections of the National Museum of Iraq include art and artifacts from ancient Sumerian, Babylonian, Akkadian and Assyrian civilizations. The museum also has galleries devoted to collections of both pre-Islamic and Islamic Arabian art and artifacts. Of its many noteworthy collections, the Nimrud gold collection—which features gold jewelry and figures of precious stone that date to the 9th century bce—and the collection of stone carvings and cuneiform tablets from Uruk are exceptional. The Uruk treasures date to between 3500 and 3000 BCE.
The museum has opened its doors on only a dozen times since September 1980 during the Iran-Iraq War. Many archaeological officials protested against this opening, arguing that conditions were not yet safe enough to put the museum at risk; the museum's director was fired for airing her objections.
In a ceremony to mark the occasion, Qahtan Abbas, Iraq's tourism and antiquities minister, said that only 6,000 of the 15,000 items looted in 2003 had been returned. In a book published in 2009, it was estimated that 600,000 archaeological pieces were looted by Kurdish and Shia militias allied with the United States since 2003 In September 2011 Iraqi officials announced the renovated museum will permanently reopen in November, protected by new climate control and security systems. The United States and Italian governments have both contributed to the renovation effort.
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Iraq Museum, Baghdad
National Museum of Iraq
IRAQ: BAGHDAD: MUSEUM REOPENS AFTER 10 YEARS
English/Nat
After a closure of about 10 years, the Iraq Museum has opened its doors to the public, with an exhibition displaying over 10-thousand ancient artefacts.
The relics range from simple farming tools used around 6-thousand B-C, to colossal winged-bull statues that the Assyrians placed at their city gates to instil fear in enemies.
The treasures were removed for safekeeping shortly before the outbreak of the 1991 Gulf War in which a U-S-led military mission ejected Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
The museum had been closed ever since.
Baghdad unveiled its national treasures on Saturday, when it reopened the Iraq Museum after a ten-year period of closure.
The Iraqi government has been discussing reopening the museum for the last two years, saying the risk of airstrikes against Iraq had lessened.
On Saturday the museum's doors were finally reopened, though U-N sanctions still imposed on the country meant the cost of its reopening had to be kept to minimum.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
The UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) representative came on several occasions in the past and there was some cooperation but of course it is not enough. (It is) thanks to the Iraqis themselves and to Iraq money that they assemble such wonderful world class museum. But I would like to assure you that the U-N family would like to help more.
SUPER CAPTION: Francois Dubois, United Nations Development Programme (U-N-D-P) Representative to Iraq
Iraq's economy has been crippled by trade sanctions imposed to punish Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait.
Sanctions are still in place because Iraq has failed to convince the U-N that is has surrendered its weapons of mass destruction.
Iraqi government officials touring the museum denounced the U-S led sanctions, saying they contrasted starkly with Iraq's sophisticated cultural heritage.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
When you have this new look of this museum you can compare between our civilization and the uncivilized aggression on the Americans against our people. So in my opinion this is the meaning of the reopening of this museum U-S aggression against our people.
SUPER CAPTION: Humam Abdulkhaleq, Iraq's Information Minister
Visitors on the museum's opening day were first ushered into the prehistoric hall where implements used during the Neolithic age, such as hammers, grinding stones and sickle-blades, were on display.
Curators said the implements were some of the world's earliest farming tools.
Several halls brimmed with Mesopotamian clay figurines, including those of the mother goddess, the symbol of fertility and reproduction.
Relics of the Sumerian civilisation of southern Iraq, over whose ethnic and linguistic roots scientists are still puzzling, occupy the heart of the museum.
Pieces include clay tablets with cuneiform writing that played the role of today's books, and cylinder seals the Sumerians used as signatures and passed on to ancient nations that ruled Iraq and the Middle East after them.
Some 200-thousand other pieces remain tucked away in warehouses in Baghdad.
And relics are still being discovered.
Over the next few months the Antiquities Department of the museum hope to add some 10-thousand more objects to the current collection.
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Iraq war 10 years on: the museum's story
Iraq war 10 years on: the museum's story
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This film looks at the National Museum of Iraq, which suffered pillaging, theft and damage in 2003. Nine years on, the museum remains closed for restoration. Work is progressing well and the Ministry of Tourism and Archaeology is continuing its efforts to recover lost cultural treasures. The film examines the scale of the Iraqi history which was lost, and the archaeological items that are there to remind us of the great civilization it once was home to.
Gli interventi italiani per la riqualificazione dell'Iraq Museum di Baghdad
Mercoledì 16 marzo 2016 nella Galleria del Primaticcio di Palazzo Firenze la Società Dante Alighieri e la Commissione Nazionale Italiana dell’UNESCO hanno ospitato la presentazione del volume che descrive gli interventi realizzati all’Iraq Museum di Baghdad dopo il saccheggio del 2003 dal CRAST Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino per il Medio Oriente e l’Asia e da Monumenta Orientalia.
Museum in Baghdad Iraq
Exhibition of paintings of Iraqi painters ????????????????????????
Iraq's National Museum reopens in Baghdad
Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi promised to safeguard the country's heritage, especially after ISIL destroyed ancient statues in Mosul.
Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf reports from Baghdad.
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Iraq reopens Baghdad museum 12 years after looting
Iraq's national museum officially reopened Saturday after 12 years of painstaking efforts during which close to a third of 15,000 pieces looted during the US-led invasion were recovered. Duration: 00:36
Baghdad Revisited: The resilience of the Iraqi people
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The abode of peace and capital of Islam – this is how 14th century explorer Ibn Battuta described Baghdad in his writings. The city’s recent history, however, has been anything but peaceful: rocked by the US-led invasion, sectarian violence and deadly terrorist attacks. However, some are now finally beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel, as FRANCE 24's Simona Foltyn reports.
We begin our journey at the Plastic Art Society in Baghdad, where Iraqi painter Qasem Sabti focuses on the work of emerging artists who have exhibited their work as part of an annual exhibition. Amid this cultural revival, Qasem hopes that the city’s art scene may once again reclaim some of its former glory.
Next, author Irada Al Jabbouri takes us on a tour of neighbourhoods of Baghdad that have endured 15 years of violence. Though full of painful memories, these areas and their inhabitants also bear witness to the heartbreaking resilience of the Iraqi people.
But it will take decades for the physical and psychological wounds to heal. We meet Ali Abed Yasser, a soldier who lost both of his legs during the war against the Islamic State group. Three years later, he’s still waiting for the government to provide him with prosthetic legs. Though he sacrificed so much to liberate his country, he has little hope for the future and feels abandoned by the politicians, a common sentiment among Baghdad residents.
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بغداد العراق 1982 Baghdad Iraq
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Iraq's Lost Treasures (the treasure of Nimrud)
the treasure of Nimrud — which dates from the eighth and ninth centuries B.C. — consists of over 100 pounds of solid gold jewelry, precious metals and other priceless artifacts, including a crown made from more than a kilogram of gold.
Discovered 15 years ago in northern Iraq, the exquisite objects had not been seen since before the first Gulf War.
CNR - Iraq Virtual Museum
Promo sulle attività di ricerca svolte nell'ambito del Progetto 'Iraq Virtual Museum'.
Ricerche aerotopografiche Giuseppe Scardozzi.
Virtual Reality Francesco Gabellone.
Musiche Alex Zuccaro, voce John Taylor
Research fellow: I. Ferrari, F. Giuri, M. Limoncelli
CNR IBAM, Lecce
Iraqi National Musem receives 1,000 antiquities unearthed at sites south of Baghdad
1. Wide exterior shot of Iraq's National Museum
2. Sign reading Iraq Museum
3. Two men walking along corridor with cart loaded with antiquities
4. Men guiding hand cart loaded with boxes through doorway
5. Various of Iraqi officials unloading boxes of antiquities
6. Tilt up of antiquities in open boxes
7. Antiquities in open box, pan to museum employees at table inspecting items
8. Various of museum employees at table inspecting antiquities
9. Various of antiquities displayed on white cloth
10. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Qais Hussein, director-general of excavations at General Committee of Archaeology and Heritage:
The Iraq Museum today received archaeological findings that were discovered by excavation teams formed at the beginning of this year. We have three excavation teams namely Duraihim, Abu Antique and Ishan Khalid. All these teams are working in Diwaniyah. Duraihim team delivered 140 antiquities, Ishan Khalid team handed over 341 and Abu Antique 631 antiquities.
11. Various of archaeologists gathering around new findings
12. Close-up of antiquities on table
13. Various shots of interior museum
STORYLINE:
Iraqi archaeologists working in a city south of Baghdad unearthed more than 1,000 antiquities and delivered them on Monday to the National Museum, which has struggled to rebuild its collection since it was looted in the US-led invasion.
The museum has been closed to the public since 2003, but curators have been trying to recover some of the 15,000 stolen relics and piece together a collection.
Qais Hussein, who directs Iraqi archaeological digs, said the antiquities presented on Monday were discovered by three teams at the beginning of the year in the Shiite city of Diwaniyah, 130 kilometres (80 miles) south of Baghdad.
Hussein did not say when the National Museum would be open to the public.
The looting of the museum triggered sharp criticism of US forces both in Iraq and abroad.
Museum curators and archaeologists worldwide blamed the United States for not preventing the theft of thousands of treasures, some of them dating from the earliest days of human history.
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Baghdad Revisited: The resilience of the Iraqi people
Subscribe to France 24 now:
FRANCE 24 live news stream: all the latest news 24/7
The abode of peace and capital of Islam – this is how 14th century explorer Ibn Battuta described Baghdad in his writings. The city’s recent history, however, has been anything but peaceful: rocked by the US-led invasion, sectarian violence and deadly terrorist attacks. However, some are now finally beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel, as FRANCE 24's Simona Foltyn reports.
We begin our journey at the Plastic Art Society in Baghdad, where Iraqi painter Qasem Sabti focuses on the work of emerging artists who have exhibited their work as part of an annual exhibition. Amid this cultural revival, Qasem hopes that the city’s art scene may once again reclaim some of its former glory.
Next, author Irada Al Jabbouri takes us on a tour of neighbourhoods of Baghdad that have endured 15 years of violence. Though full of painful memories, these areas and their inhabitants also bear witness to the heartbreaking resilience of the Iraqi people.
But it will take decades for the physical and psychological wounds to heal. We meet Ali Abed Yasser, a soldier who lost both of his legs during the war against the Islamic State group. Three years later, he’s still waiting for the government to provide him with prosthetic legs. Though he sacrificed so much to liberate his country, he has little hope for the future and feels abandoned by the politicians, a common sentiment among Baghdad residents.
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Bizarre Artifacts inside the Iraqi National Museum: Reptillians & More!
A rare look inside the Iraqi National Museum at some bizarre artifacts that date back as far as 6000BC! Alien-like figures and more!
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Iraqi Museum in Baghdad المتحف العراقي في بغداد Иракский Музей В Багдаде
This museum was built in 1923
IRAQ BAGHDAD LOOTING
Shot 04/09/2003. IRAQ WAR ANNIVERSARY Men, women and children looting. One man says Thank you to camera. Mural of Saddam with black paint splattered over it. To License This Clip, Click Here:
4.2.1. The requalification project of the Iraq Museum of Baghdad
This video is included in the MOOC Museums and society available on Unibo Open Knowledge
The “Museums and Society” course has been developed within the framework of EDUU (Education and Cultural Heritage Enhancement for Social Cohesion in Iraq, eduu.unibo.it) a project funded by the European Union in the frame of the EuropeAid – Civil Society Organisations – Local Authorities Programme in Iraq.
This work is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Inside the restoration of Baghdad's cultural showpiece
(10 Aug 2016) LEAD IN
The Iraqi National Museum has been restored following damage caused by the 2003 invasion and the Islamic State group.
With help from the US, Italy and Japan national heritage dating back thousands of years is now back on display.
STORY-LINE
Dating back between 1800-613 BC, artefacts such as these could have been lost forever after Baghdad fell to U.S. military forces in 2003.
The Iraqi Museum was exposed to crime such as theft and looting, but now many of these treasures have been retrieved and restored.
Most of its antiquities, ruins and furniture were smashed, explains Deputy Minister of Culture, Qais Hussein Rasheed. We worked hard along with other friendly countries, mainly the U.S., Italy and Japan, to rehabilitate the museum.''
Iraqi officials frequently caution the world that Iraqi ancient antiquities are under threat, especially in more recent years when the Islamic State group took over vast territories in the north and west of Iraq.
Recently, we are facing a new problem which is that the enemy (the extremists) bulldozed and torpedoed the archaeological sites. So we lost more than 150 archaeological sites, temples monasteries and churches dated to the Ottoman reign, says Rasheed.
The Islamic state group looted and destroyed several ancient sites in Iraq and Syria as part of its campaign to cleanse the territory it controlled of items the extremists deem as non-Islamic.
The militants bulldozed the renowned archaeological site of the ancient city of Nimrud in northern Iraq.
Nimrud was the second capital of Assyria, an ancient kingdom that began in about 900 B.C.
But thanks to recent restoration Assyrian and other Iraqi artifacts are now once again proudly on display at the Iraqi National Museum.
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