Iraq projects
Institutes in Baghdad
The Italian-Iraqi Institute of Archaeological Sciences and the Italian-Iraqi Centre for the Restoration of Monuments, founded with the purpose of establishing an ongoing joint cooperation between Italy and Iraq, have been operating in Baghdad since 1969.
Seleucia on the Tigris
1964-1989. The ruins of Seleucia, which to this day extend over a vast area of over 550 hectares, lie for the most part unexplored on the right bank of the current course of the Tigris, approximately 30 km south of Baghdad.
Ver-Ardashir
1964-1975. A series of excavation campaigns were conducted in the area of the ancient Sassanid city of Ver-Ardashir, founded by Ardashir I (224 – 241 A.D.), the first great Sassanid ruler.
Hamrin dam
1977-1981. The Centro Scavi took part in the international project to save the archaeological sites in the Jebel Hamrin region, which the basin of the dam on the Diyala River would have submerged, promoted by the State Organization of Antiquities and Heritage of Iraq.
Kifrin
1980-1983. Surveys and excavations performed in the Kifrin site are Italy’s contribution, through the Centro Scavi’s work, to the project for saving archaeological sites that preceded the construction of the al-Qadissiya dam and the creation of the basin on the Euphrates upstream of Haditha.
Eski Mosul dam
1984-1986. The project to build a dam on the Tigris resulted in the formation of a long basin that to the North reaches the Turkish and Syrian borders. Of the sites to be investigated that were proposed by the Iraqi Antiquities Service, the Italian Archaeological Mission chose Khirbet Hatara.
Hatra
1987-1989. The Centro Scavi pledged to conduct an exploration and study of Hatra, the capital of the Arab tribes of the Jazira region, which between the 1st century B.C. and the 2nd century A.D. became their most important city before the advent of Islam.
Nimrud
1987-1989. Nimrud, the ancient Kalhu, was founded in the 9th century B. C. as the capital and royal residence by Assurnazirpal II, the first great king of the Neo-Assyrian empire.
Nineveh
2002-2003. On the eve of the Second Gulf War, the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino per il Medio Oriente e l'Asia, in cooperation with the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and the Central Restoration Institute, embarked on a campaign for documenting and verifying the state of conservation of the structures of the royal suite in the palace of Sennacherib, in the ancient Assyrian capital Nineveh.
Baghdad Museum
Since 2003, one of the fields in which the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino per il Medio Oriente e l'Asia has been active is the restoration of several halls of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad.
BRILA - iraqi cultural heritage
The Bureau for the Recovery and Investigation of Iraqi Looted Antiquities project consists in the creation of a database of artifacts that were stolen from Iraq.