BABYLON PRESERVATION & TOURISM

U.S., Iraqi experts developing plan to preserve Babylon, build local tourism industry. Stars & Stripes, 28Jun09

"Members of the brigade’s 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment escorted a group of U.S. heritage tourism experts to the ruins last week for the first of several visits to develop a preservation and tourism plan for the area.

Iraq Virtual Museum Opens

"Treasures from 6,000 years of Mesopotamian history are just a click away, now that Italy has put the National Museum of Iraq online. The Virtual Museum of Iraq, viewable in Arabic, English, and Italian, lets visitors "walk" through eight virtual halls and see works from the prehistoric to the Islamic periods, while video clips reconstruct the history of Iraq’s main cities."

U.S. TO HELP WITH ANTIQUITIES

The U.S. says it is willing to extend a helping hand to preserve Iraqi antiquities and train Iraqi archaeologists, U.S. ambassador to Iraq said. Christopher R. Hill said that the U.S. and Iraq have signed “a strategic pact” which includes, among other things, cooperation in the field of antiquities. Antiquities Department spokesman Abdulzahara al-Talaqani has welcomed the U.S. move. “The U.S. through its ambassador has expressed preparedness to cooperate with Iraq in preserving and retrieving its antiquities,” Talaqani said. He said the U.S. has returned to Iraq 1,046 archaeological pieces “and is ready to send excavation teams” to work in the country.
Hill has visited the Nineveh Museum in the restive northern city of Mosul following a rehabilitation campaign which the U.S. has financed.

GETTY PROGRAM
GLOBAL HERITAGE FUND
ECAI IRAQ
BAGHDAD MUSEUM PROJECT