The Virtual Museum of Iraq

History, Web 2.0 style

Iraq is still a warzone and still unsafe for tourists to approach outside of Iraqi Kurdistan. The country, home to some of humankind’s greatest cultural treasures, is not a place for one to visit.

The Italian government recently funded the creation of The Virtual Museum of Iraq, a trilingual (English/Arabic/Italian) website showing priceless cultural artifacts from Mesopotamia ranging from the prehistoric to the late Islamic:

The treasures of Baghdad’s National Museum went online for the first time Tuesday as Italy inaugurated the Virtual Museum of Iraq as part of an ongoing cultural collaboration between the two countries.

Looted during the United States-led invasion in 2003, the Baghdad Museum partially reopened in February after six years but the website is designed to make its most important artefacts accessible to everyone.

The Baghdad Archaeological Museum, now the National Museum of Iraq, was founded by the British Arabist and traveler Gertude Bell in 1926 and is home to one of the world’s finest archaeological collections. During the Hussein era, the Museum was well-funded in an effort to connect the Baathist leader with Iraq’s earlier days of glory. It was closed in 1991 because of the Gulf War and was not reopened until calmer times in 2000.

Then came 2003 and the museum’s looting during the chaos of the American invasion. 15,000 priceless artifacts were stolen including 5000 cylinder seals, sculptures, amulets and Assyrian ivories. Staffers at the museum had to hold off thieves with clubs and 2×4s.

The National Museum remains partially open but, understandably, has a low number of visitors due to the current situation.  Although the National Museum and Virtual Museum are seperate entities, the Virtual Museum exhibits some of the best known artifacts from the flash-and-blood museum.

The Virtual Museum is a window into our shared cultural heritage as human beings. Frankly, it’s a hell of a site.

So when you have that downtime at work later, check it out. Forget Icanhascheezburger and enjoy some culture, alright?