Baghdad antiquities museum reopens six years after looters struck
Iraq’s National Museum, the resting place of antiquities from the dawn of civilisation, reopened yesterday for the first time since it was denuded by looters six years ago under the eyes of US troops. About 6,000 of the 15,000 artefacts stolen during the anarchy after the fall of Baghdad have been recovered and were back on display yesterday after a $14 million (£10 million) refurbishment.
The opening almost did not happen because of feuding between the ministries of Tourism and Culture. Tourism officials wanted to open the museum with great fanfare, celebrating the emergence of Iraq from the brutal sectarian strife of the past few years.
The Culture Ministry objected, however, saying that the museum was not ready and that security remained a pressing issue.
The compromise was a partial opening, with only eight of the previous twenty-six wings of the museum open and with exhibitions focusing on items that were stolen and then recovered.
“Don’t expect it to be what it was before, when 26 wings told the story of Iraq through the ages,” Amira Eidan, the museum director, told guests and dignitaries. A backdrop of photographs told the story of the desecration of the museum in 2003, showing smashed doors, toppled statues and shattered pottery from Ancient Mesopotamia. Donny George, the museum’s director at the time, later accused US troops of “the crime of the century” for standing by while it was ransacked.
Looters smashed priceless antiquities, including a terracotta lion from the early second millennium BC, and beheaded ancient statues including several from the ancient city of Hatra.
A US tank also blasted a hole in the Assyrian Gate at the museum. Other, more professional thieves targeted specific pieces to smuggle overseas.
The inaction of the troops was witnessed by Western journalists who alerted them to the significance of the building, only to be told that they had not been given orders to protect it.
The Oil Ministry was among a handful of sites guarded during the mayhem, which was dismissed by Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary at the time, with the remark that “stuff happens”...
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The opening almost did not happen because of feuding between the ministries of Tourism and Culture. Tourism officials wanted to open the museum with great fanfare, celebrating the emergence of Iraq from the brutal sectarian strife of the past few years.
The Culture Ministry objected, however, saying that the museum was not ready and that security remained a pressing issue.
The compromise was a partial opening, with only eight of the previous twenty-six wings of the museum open and with exhibitions focusing on items that were stolen and then recovered.
“Don’t expect it to be what it was before, when 26 wings told the story of Iraq through the ages,” Amira Eidan, the museum director, told guests and dignitaries. A backdrop of photographs told the story of the desecration of the museum in 2003, showing smashed doors, toppled statues and shattered pottery from Ancient Mesopotamia. Donny George, the museum’s director at the time, later accused US troops of “the crime of the century” for standing by while it was ransacked.
Looters smashed priceless antiquities, including a terracotta lion from the early second millennium BC, and beheaded ancient statues including several from the ancient city of Hatra.
A US tank also blasted a hole in the Assyrian Gate at the museum. Other, more professional thieves targeted specific pieces to smuggle overseas.
The inaction of the troops was witnessed by Western journalists who alerted them to the significance of the building, only to be told that they had not been given orders to protect it.
The Oil Ministry was among a handful of sites guarded during the mayhem, which was dismissed by Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary at the time, with the remark that “stuff happens”...