The Baghdad Museum

Project: Reopening of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad
Download brochure "Iraq Museum - 2008" -

One of the projects the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino per il Medio Oriente e l'Asia has been working on since 2000 is the restoration of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. The technical, scientific and organizational aspects of this project have been prepared jointly with Italy’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities (Research, Innovation and Organization Area), and it is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Direction General for the Mediterranean and Middle East), by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities (Research, Innovation and Organization Area), and by the Fondazione Banca Nazionale delle Comunicazioni.

As the most important artefacts of Mesopotamian culture found so far are preserved for the most part in Baghdad’s Iraq Museum, not only in the exhibition halls but especially in its immense storerooms, which contain an enormous number of artefacts of great historical significance, it is easy to understand the cultural importance of the work that is currently underway, which also includes the training of Iraqi staff (conducted also in Jordan and in Italy).

In addition to the Iraq Museum, it will be necessary to intervene on regional museums too in order to avoid thefts and further damage, such as those that took place after the first Gulf War. In this respect, the B.R.I.L.A. project and the activities of the Carabinieri's Cultural Heritage Protection Division proved extremely useful.

The restoration of seriously damaged pieces was conducted by Italian restorers, some of them belonging to the Central Restoration Institute and to the Archeological Local Authorities of Piedmont.