The exhibition “Preserving the cultural heritage of Iraq: the contribution of the Italian archaeological missions” opened last week in Baghdad. It is the first event of the “Italy, Cultures, the Mediterranean” programme including film screenings, musical performances, history and literature events and with which Italy relaunches its cultural promotion in Iraq after 15 years.
“Italy’s support to cultural heritage is of primary importance in Iraq’s reconstruction,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Angelino Alfano. He went on: “Italy intends to further enhance its more than decade-long engagement in Iraq to rebuild museums, recover archaeological sites and combat the illegal trafficking of archaeological finds, because we are convinced that culture is an effective and essential driver of sustainable development and of human and social rebirth. It is thanks to Italian archaeological missions that the protection of Iraq’s cultural heritage has been relaunched, attracting the interest of the Iraqi people and of missions from other Countries.”
The exhibition opened last week at the Italian-Iraqi Institute of Archaeological Sciences, which is co-directed by Professor Carlo Lippolis of the Archaeological Research and Excavation Centre of Turin (CRAST), which has managed the reconstruction and the new set-up of the Baghdad Museum since 2004.
