While wandering around the British Museum recently, I was drawn to the Assyrian collection. There are some fantastic artworks from the ancient worlds of Iraq, Egypt and Greece on display.But what surprised me was that most of the exhibits come from Iraq. Why, I asked myself, are these works here, who brought them and is it legal to do so?
As an Iraqi from one of the country’s most ancient cities, I couldn’t help but pose those questions.
Of course, the Iraqi government isn’t exactly in a position to demand the return of any of its art treasures at the moment. Very soon there might not be any left in the country to steal anyway.
Since the outbreak of the Iraq war, many sites have been destroyed by US and coalition forces and some of the oldest sites of civilisation have been looted.
Satellite images show the extent of the damage suffered since the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, when for a brief period images of looting made the headlines. But not anymore. Why? Abdul Zahra Talaqani, of Iraq’s Ministry for Tourism and Archaeology has explained that: “Iraq floats over two seas: one is oil and the other is antiquities…The American forces, when they entered, protected all the oil wells and the Ministry of Oil . . . but the American forces paid no attention to Iraq’s heritage.”
On the fifth anniversary of the invasion this year Digital Globe, a company specialising in high resolution space imaging, conducted a survey of Iraq which revealed that looters have torn up huge areas of the country.
According to American commentators, this looting has been organised to fill private and illegal collections in the West.
Hundreds of thousands of coins, statues and paintings and bronze pieces and many other archaeological works have been stolen from these sites, which confirms that the looting is not random but something more organised.
The French magazine Archaeologia states that no archaeological destruction on this scale has occurred for at least 1,000 years. Some of the most important cities in Sumerian civilisation such as Um Alkarad and Umma have now effectively vanished from the face of the earth.
American and coalition troops have also wrecked priceless archaeological remains in Iraq’s ancient cities.
In Babylon, souvenir hunters have damaged the remains of the famous Ishtar Gate by stealing brick reliefs of dragons and military vehicles have ripped through parts of the 2,600-year-old Processional Way leading to Nebuchadnezzar’s Palace.
As I left the British Museum, I saw an advert for the Babylon exhibition coming up in November. On display there will be exhibits from British, French and German museums including some of the great treasures of Babylon. But there will also be a section on its tragic recent history, ” including its subjection to damage through conflict.” Uncomfortable viewing.
For details of the Babylon exhibition, go to http://www.britishmuseum.org
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