The Iraq Museum

About this place

The Iraq Museum is the national museum of Iraq, on the Karkh side of Baghdad, with relics of the Mesopotamian civilisations and the Islamic ages. It is the single best place to grasp the country's past, as its objects come from many sites you could never visit in one trip. Give it enough time, as its halls are large and follow one after another. The collection began in 1922 in a government building in Baghdad, with the aim of keeping finds inside Iraq, and a museum of antiquities opened in 1926 with Gertrude Bell as its first director. The collection moved in 1966 to the present large building in Al-Salhiyah. After long years of closure and restoration, the museum officially reopened in February 2015. You move through Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian and Islamic halls. Among the most famous objects are the carved Warka Vase, the long walls of Assyrian palace reliefs and an Abbasid mihrab from Samarra. Labels explain most pieces, but a guide makes the visit much clearer, above all in the Sumerian section. The museum is about 1.4 km in a straight line from Al-Mutanabbi Street, on the other side of the Tigris. Sources differ on its opening days and hours, so check before you go, and carry dinars and your passport. The UK Foreign Office currently advises against all but essential travel to this area, so check official guidance before planning.