IRAQ: Diplomats and journalists were yesterday invited by the US authorities to view several galleries of Iraq's National Museum which was looted after the war, writes Michael Jansen.
The administration said it was holding this event to demonstrate to the world that the museum's spectacular collection of Mesopotamian artefacts was largely intact and to stimulate interest in Iraq's rich cultural heritage. The museum may open to the public in September.
Among the items on display was the 3,000-year-old "Treasure of Nimrud," a priceless collection of jewellery and gold objects which had been stored along with thousands of other valuable pieces since 1991 in a vault at the central bank. The vaults were flooded by sewage during the US war on Iraq last spring and the water had to be pumped out before the artefacts could be recovered. It was only the second time in 3,000 years that the jewellery was on view after its discovery between 1988 and 1990 in ancient royal tombs below a ninth-century BC palace.
Following the fall of the Baathist regime in April, the museum suffered six days of looting for which US forces were blamed because the site was not protected. Since the galleries were found empty, it was initially reported that the pillage had been comprehensive. But once the museum had been secured, staff revealed that the galleries had been cleared of most objects before the war.
Nevertheless, looters and art thieves took 32 of the museum's most important pieces, including a Sumerian alabaster head of a woman from 3,000 BC, thought to be the first sculptured portrait of a living person. At least 6,000 items were taken from the store rooms and thousands smashed. Some stolen pieces have been returned by Iraqis under an amnesty while others have been seized in Italy and the US.