Virtual Museum of Iraq opens

Italy honors Iraq as the birthplace of civilization through a new virtual museum featuring 70 of the antiquities on display at the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad.

Iraq's National Museum in Baghdad housed some of the world’s oldest and most precious artifacts at the time it was looted and laid waste during the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. It was closed for six years, re-opening in February of this year, with some 6,000 artifacts recovered. At least that many, some 10,000 years old, remain missing. Experts believe many items have been smuggled out of the country and are in the possession of private collectors. Earlier this month, Italy launched a virtual museum featuring 70 items at the museum for people around the world to enjoy. Presented in Italian, English and Arabic, the online museum contains images, movies, maps and time lines in seven different halls designed to be explored. There’s an alabaster figurine of a female from 6200-5700 BC Samarra; a glazed brick panel from Ishtar Gate, Babylon, 605-562 BC; and a cuneiform tablet from 3400-3100 BC. The virtual museum confirms Italy’s commitment to support Iraqi reconstruction and restore its artistic and cultural heritage, said Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, in a written statement. The virtual museum was initiated after the U.S. invasion as a means to preserve cultural cooperation between Italy and Iraq and demonstrate Italy’s desire to see Iraq secure and stabilized, according to Gianfranco Fini, president of Italy’s Chamber of Deputies.

"The reconstruction of a democracy can not be separated from the recovery of cultural identity as a people," said Fini.

The multimedia exhibit was developed by Italy’s Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (National Research Council) with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. More than 100 researchers, scholars of ancient civilization and technicians collaborated on what was to become a “cultural convergence,” said Roberto de Mattei, vice president of the National Research Council. Italians and Iraqis worked closely together on research and implementation of the virtual museum, which cost about 1 million euros, or $1.28 million to produce. Italy also helped repair and recover many stolen artifacts after the bricks-and-mortar museum was ransacked.