Iraq has a rich cultural heritage
by Barbara Plett in Baghdad
BBC, 5th January

In every spacious hallway and under every sweeping arch, workers are
chipping damaged plaster off the walls of Baghdad's old post office.
On the ground floor, a bank of rusting postal boxes waits for a new
life - this once grand building is being restored and turned into a
museum.
"Heritage sites like this one are important because they show the old
civilisation of Iraq," says the contractor Soran Najjad Omar, stepping
carefully so as not to get chalky dust on his shiny grey suit.
"This post office will look like it did in 1907. The style is
beautiful, it's far better than the current fashion in architecture, and the
construction is also more sound," he said.

Most of the buildings in old Baghdad date back to the Ottoman period
around 150 years ago, their finely crafted exteriors a stark contrast to
the soulless Soviet-style apartment blocks that started taking over in
the 1970s and 80s.
Restoration work had slowed almost to a stop because of wars and UN
sanctions, but it has started to recover recently. Baghdad has also
revived efforts to preserve and protect its ancient heritage, which is a much
bigger job.

Hundreds of kilometres south of Iraq, archaeologists carefully scrape
away rock and sand covering the remains of a 5,000-year-old city - so
far they've found the remains of a temple, a palace and a cemetery.
It's 60 degrees, there's no shade, and the incessant wind is like the
breath of a dragon, but these hardy workers are not only exploring the
past, they're protecting it.

Sites like these were looted during the chaos after the 1991 Gulf war
and the years of poverty that followed. Four thousand artefacts were
also stolen from regional museums, some by organised smuggling rackets.
For the most part, the department of antiquities watched helplessly,
until it decided recently that it must try a new approach.

"We tried all kinds of protection, but the best idea was to go by
ourselves, and be here to protect the sites with our own guards, with the
workers working here," says archaeologist Donny George.
"This proved to be 100% perfect because since we came here, nothing has
been lost from these cities."
Over the past two years, archaeologists have begun excavations at 21
threatened sites. This is only part of a plan to resurrect Iraq's rich
heritage, a history of civilisations that range from the ancient Sumerian
to the medieval Islamic.

This year Baghdad re-opened the national Iraq Museum for the first time
since the Gulf War. Its precious artefacts were hidden for most of the
past decade to protect them from theft or destruction.
Now the collection is back on display, including a prehistoric
skeleton, statues of gods, and superb Assyrian stone reliefs that impress a
class of visiting school girls.

"I really liked the Assyrian artefacts," says 12-year-old Marwa Salah,
"especially the carvings of the flowers. They were holy symbols, which
the people used to decorate their dresses, and even to wear on their
wrists like a watch."
Restoring Iraq's past is a presidential priority. Saddam Hussein issued
a decree several years ago to get the work back on track. He even
allocated a budget, although no one can say how much or where the money
comes from.
Iraq has since recovered thousands of stolen pieces with the help of
neighbouring Jordan.
"We are working, excavating and making restoration projects," says
Donny George. "The Iraq museum is now open, and the regional museums are
opening up too."
The task is still enormous: Iraq has some 10,000 archaeological sites
and an official protection force of 2,000. It's impossible to say how
much Baghdad has lost and may never recover.
Recent efforts though are restoring not only the sites but a sense of
national pride, and have increased Iraq's determination to some day
finish the job.