Scarred but still standing, Mosul museum reopens at last
Ninevah’s renowned cultural heritage museum, known for the Islamic State's disastrous attack on its treasures, has finally reopened to the public.
Before 2014, Iraq's Ninevah province was home to five museums of natural history, modern art and antiquities. Within a year, that number fell to zero.
Six years later, Ninevah welcomed the public back to the antiquities museum in Mosul, regarded by some as the region's crown jewel of cultural heritage.
The museum has a tumultuous recent history. Its most recent ransacking was committed by the Islamic State and began in 2014. The extremist group destroyed or looted hundreds of artifacts.
“The museum is our identity,” said Iraqi archeologist Layla Salih. “Each city in Iraq has a unique identity. Najaf and Karbala both have a religious identity. For others, there is an economic identity. For Mosul, we have cultural heritage; this is our identity.”
