Iraqis beam with pride as national museum reopens
Print Edition
EVEN as Iraq mourned the destruction of priceless artifacts by jihadists in Mosul, the national museum in Baghdad brought joy and pride to visitors as it opened its doors for the first time in 12 years.
The reopening to the public was brought forward in response to a video released last week by the Islamic State group showing militants destroying statues in Mosul.
Many of the pieces on display in Baghdad were among the 15,000 looted when mobs ransacked the museum during the plundering spree that gripped the capital when US forces toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The blow was cataclysmic for an archeological collection until then considered to be one of the world’s richest. Close to a fifth of the stolen artifacts have been recovered.
Last week’s footage of IS militants in Mosul gleefully smashing ancient statues with sledgehammers and defacing a colossal Assyrian winged bull at an archeological park with a jackhammer shocked Iraqis and the rest of the world.
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