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The National Museum of Iraq is a cultural epitome of historically-rich Iraq. Established in 1920s in Baghdad, the museum originally contained nearly 300,000 precious historical relics ranging from the Neolithic Age up to 100,000 years ago to the mid-19th century. 

Bearing one of the earliest human civilizations, Mesopotamia witnessed the rises and falls of many important civilizations, including Sumerian civilization, the Babylonian civilization, the Assyrian empire, and Persian and Arab civilizations. Rooted in the region, Iraq collected what is considered to be finest artifacts in human history. 

Of its many noteworthy collections in the museum's 28 galleries and vaults, the head of an Akkadian ruler, the ivory statues of the Assyrian era known as the "Mona Lisa of Nimrud," and the Nimrud gold collection, are exceptional. 

The museum has a library with 6,000 manuscripts and about 70,000 books in various languages, including many precious Arabic and Persian scriptures of the Quran and the Hadith, as well as works of medieval Arab history, literature and natural sciences, which are precious materials for studying the history and culture of Arab Islam.

During and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, thousands of pieces in the collections were looted. On February 23, 2009, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki reopened the museum, but about 7,000 lost properties are still unknown. In February, 2015, the National Museum of Iraq was officially reopened after 12 years of closure.Previous