Iraq National Museum has reopened
Feb 24, 2009 12:20:43 GMT
Post by komsomol on Feb 24, 2009 12:20:43 GMT
BAGHDAD (AFP) — The Iraq Museum reopened 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 jewellery, and freshly painted pale blue walls, the Baghdad museum is again home to a wealth of artefacts, some dating back thousands of years.
A total of 15,000 statues and other valuable artefacts 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. About 6,000 items have so far been returned from inside Iraq, from its neighbours and around the world. Almost 2,500 of the items returned have come from neighbouring Jordan, another 700 from Syria and more than 1,000 from the United States, the antiquities minister said.
Other objects were returned home from as far part as Peru and Sweden.
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 civilisation.
The Iraq 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 dollar) donation and technical help from Italy.
It is also displaying artefacts 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.
Former museum director Donny George, who fled to New York, has accused the US occupation forces of "the crime of the century" for having stood by and watched the ransacking of the museum that went on for days.
Looters smashed numerous antiquities and beheaded statues such as that of Hatra, while more professional thieves selected valuable items for smuggling.
Apart from looting, rampant among public buildings after Saddam's fall, US tanks blasted a hole in the wall of the entrance to the museum, which generations of Iraqis know from school visits.
With its polished marble floors, glass display cases filled with gold coins, pottery and jewellery, and freshly painted pale blue walls, the Baghdad museum is again home to a wealth of artefacts, some dating back thousands of years.
A total of 15,000 statues and other valuable artefacts 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. About 6,000 items have so far been returned from inside Iraq, from its neighbours and around the world. Almost 2,500 of the items returned have come from neighbouring Jordan, another 700 from Syria and more than 1,000 from the United States, the antiquities minister said.
Other objects were returned home from as far part as Peru and Sweden.
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 civilisation.
The Iraq 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 dollar) donation and technical help from Italy.
It is also displaying artefacts 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.
Former museum director Donny George, who fled to New York, has accused the US occupation forces of "the crime of the century" for having stood by and watched the ransacking of the museum that went on for days.
Looters smashed numerous antiquities and beheaded statues such as that of Hatra, while more professional thieves selected valuable items for smuggling.
Apart from looting, rampant among public buildings after Saddam's fall, US tanks blasted a hole in the wall of the entrance to the museum, which generations of Iraqis know from school visits.
