The British Museum will host the launch of a $5m campaign to turn one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces into a new museum, which could eventually show artefacts from the British Museum's collection.
The project is an attempt to leave a positive cultural legacy in Basra, the area of southern Iraq occupied by the British during the war. Basra has been without a museum since the first Gulf war in 1991, when it was emptied and artefacts moved to Baghdad for safekeeping which has, by and large, been successful.
The city's original museum, a courtyard house, is in poor condition, in an insecure part of the city, and the plan is to replace it with an institution in the city's Lakeside Palace, which could ultimately showcase artefacts from the British Museum's collection.
The British Museum has been closely involved with the project since it was first proposed in 2008. "It is terrifically important that in this war-torn land there should be an important cultural project," said John Curtis, keeper of the museum's Middle East collections.
"There is no major museum at the moment and hopefully this could become a model for the region – it's not just for Basra but for the whole of southern Iraq. It will be a very important cultural resource."
The museum in the city where British troops were based from 2003 for more than four years is the brainchild of the British Army's 3rd Division, under the command of Major General Barney White-Spunner.
When the idea was first suggested it had been hoped that British government money could be used.
"Initially the hope was that the museum could be a British project and paid for out of British redevelopment funds but it just didn't get in under the wire – the army had left by the time it was ready to roll," said Curtis.
"Although huge amounts of money have been spent, no doubt on many good causes, you would be hard pressed to identify them if you went there. This will be a legacy you can see."
Curtis said the hope was that the museum would show artefacts from richly historical sites, including the biblical city Ur of the Chaldees, birthplace of Abraham.
The Lakeside Palace is one of about 50 palaces that Saddam had built around Iraq, most of which he never used.
The building, which backs on to the Shatt al-Arab waterway, is more like a pavilion than a palace – although there is a lot of ornate plasterwork and woodwork – and it is an ideal size for a regional museum.
What goes to Basra will be up to the museum authorities in Iraq, but the intention is to have three rooms exploring the history and archaeology of Iraq and a fourth specifically about Basra.
A feasibility study was undertaken by Major Rupert Burridge of the Royal Engineers in 2008 and a newly created charity, the Friends of Basra Museum, hopes to raise the $5m (£3.2m) it will take to refurbish the building and fit it out with display cases in the coming year.
Curtis, who has visited Iraq about 10 times since the end of the war, said security was now much better, making the project far more feasible than it would have been even two years ago.
The project now has the backing of the Iraqi state board of antiquities and heritage and the Iraqi government, and Curtis said that the long-term plan would, it is hoped, involve the British Museum lending some of its artefacts to the Basra museum and sending special exhibitions.
Mark Brown, arts correspondent The Guardian.
The project is an attempt to leave a positive cultural legacy in Basra, the area of southern Iraq occupied by the British during the war. Basra has been without a museum since the first Gulf war in 1991, when it was emptied and artefacts moved to Baghdad for safekeeping which has, by and large, been successful.
The city's original museum, a courtyard house, is in poor condition, in an insecure part of the city, and the plan is to replace it with an institution in the city's Lakeside Palace, which could ultimately showcase artefacts from the British Museum's collection.
The British Museum has been closely involved with the project since it was first proposed in 2008. "It is terrifically important that in this war-torn land there should be an important cultural project," said John Curtis, keeper of the museum's Middle East collections.
"There is no major museum at the moment and hopefully this could become a model for the region – it's not just for Basra but for the whole of southern Iraq. It will be a very important cultural resource."
The museum in the city where British troops were based from 2003 for more than four years is the brainchild of the British Army's 3rd Division, under the command of Major General Barney White-Spunner.
When the idea was first suggested it had been hoped that British government money could be used.
"Initially the hope was that the museum could be a British project and paid for out of British redevelopment funds but it just didn't get in under the wire – the army had left by the time it was ready to roll," said Curtis.
"Although huge amounts of money have been spent, no doubt on many good causes, you would be hard pressed to identify them if you went there. This will be a legacy you can see."
Curtis said the hope was that the museum would show artefacts from richly historical sites, including the biblical city Ur of the Chaldees, birthplace of Abraham.
The Lakeside Palace is one of about 50 palaces that Saddam had built around Iraq, most of which he never used.
The building, which backs on to the Shatt al-Arab waterway, is more like a pavilion than a palace – although there is a lot of ornate plasterwork and woodwork – and it is an ideal size for a regional museum.
What goes to Basra will be up to the museum authorities in Iraq, but the intention is to have three rooms exploring the history and archaeology of Iraq and a fourth specifically about Basra.
A feasibility study was undertaken by Major Rupert Burridge of the Royal Engineers in 2008 and a newly created charity, the Friends of Basra Museum, hopes to raise the $5m (£3.2m) it will take to refurbish the building and fit it out with display cases in the coming year.
Curtis, who has visited Iraq about 10 times since the end of the war, said security was now much better, making the project far more feasible than it would have been even two years ago.
The project now has the backing of the Iraqi state board of antiquities and heritage and the Iraqi government, and Curtis said that the long-term plan would, it is hoped, involve the British Museum lending some of its artefacts to the Basra museum and sending special exhibitions.
Mark Brown, arts correspondent The Guardian.
0 Comments