BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has accelerated its efforts to finish by the end of 2018 the Virtual Museum of Iraq, which will create a comprehensive database of Iraqi archaeological heritage online.

“The project, which will establish a comprehensive database of Iraq’s cultural and heritage treasures, will make the Iraqi antiquities accessible to people all around the world,” said Abdel Amir al-Hamadani, an Iraqi archaeologist who is a candidate for management of the National Museum of Iraq.

The acceleration of the project comes following a Japanese government loan to Iraq a year ago. The funding was used to purchase equipment that would enable the online categorization of Iraq’s numerous archaeological relics, giving a breath of life to the virtual museum project that has been on the table since 2005. Most experts, however, maintain that further funding would be required to make it a truly stellar virtual museum.

At present, the Virtual Museum of Iraq's website is in English, Arabic and Italian and offers a flash video that takes visitors to eight different doors that correspond to periods of Iraq’s history: Prehistoric, Sumerian, Akkadian and Neo-Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Achaemenid and Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian, and Islamic. If the visitor clicks on any of the objects in the halls, it zooms closer and allows you to observe the object closer, as if you were in a real museum.