Founded in 1952 and designed by modernist architect Mohamed Makiya, the Mosul Cultural Museum (MCM) is the second largest in Iraq and houses extensive collections of prehistoric, Assyrian, Hatranic and Islamic artifacts that chronicle the history of the northern Iraq and its peoples. This week, officials unveiled long-awaited plans for the restoration of the building, which is expected to reopen in 2026.
In 2014, the MCM suffered extensive damage and looting under the control of the Islamic State (IS). However, this event was not the first time that the institution’s collections were threatened. During the Iraq War, the MCM sent its collections to the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad for safekeeping. Unfortunately, when American troops invaded the city in 2003, more than 15,000 objects from this institution were looted and many more were destroyed, according to the museum’s website. Although some items have been recovered, the National Museum is still searching for several of its stolen collections.
When ISIS seized the museum in 2014, more than 28,000 rare books and manuscripts were burned, according to a recent press release about the restoration project. Many artifacts and works of art were also looted, and several major Assyrian works – including three stone carvings, inscribed cuneiform tablets and metal plate fragments – were damaged or destroyed, according to official reports. Large pieces dating from the Neo-Assyrian period have been reduced to mere fragments. And the bomb blast left a large gaping crater in the floor of the central Assyrian gallery, where much of the damage was concentrated.
Since 2018, an international coalition of cultural institutions and organizations led by the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) has been working to repair and revitalize the museum. As part of the restoration, officials said they plan to preserve a footprint of the damage to the floor of the Assyrian Gallery as a visible reminder of the devastating attack.
In addition to repairing the damage left behind by IS, the coalition plans to make some much-needed updates to the building, including reviving the garden, increasing natural light and making the building overall more accessible and sustainable.
Coinciding with the launch of the restoration, museum officials also announced a new exhibit, The Mosul Cultural Museum: from destruction to rehabilitation, on display in the MCM’s neighboring former home, the Royal Hall, from May 12 to June 1. The exhibition tells the story of the MCM and presents the vision for its future through photography, video and 3D models. After June 1, the exhibition will move to the gates of the museum’s garden, where it will be digitized for a trilingual panel format. For those who cannot go to Iraq, a online version of the exhibition is available.
