Rehabilitiation of the Mosul Museum

The Mosul Museum held a uniquely important collection, documenting the multicultural and multireligious history of the city and its region, from prehistory through Assyrian and later periods. In 2015, Daesh heavily damaged the collection and the building in a highly publicized assault.

In 2018, in cooperation with the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) and the Mosul Museum, ALIPH, the Musée du Louvre, and the Smithsonian Institution launched a project to rehabilitate the museum with the goal of reopening it as soon as possible. In the first stage (2018-19), the partners completed the assessments of the building and the collection and implemented immediate stabilization measures. These included removing live ordnance from the roof, shoring up collapsing floors, and securing the building. The objects and fragments in the collection were sorted, cleaned, documented, and stored. In 2020, despite the pandemic, the conservation of the damaged artifacts progressed. The Musée du Louvre prepared remote training in conservation techniques for the museum staff. In 2021, the founding organizations initiated a partnership with the World Monuments Fund for the rehabilitation of the museum building.

This unique consortium continues its collaboration to bring this museum back to life so that it will once again tell the history of Mosul and the wider region of Nineveh. The museum is planned to reopen in 2026.