The State of Iraqi Archaeological Heritage Friday, 7th April. 10:00h - 14:30h (In memoriam G. Gullini) Coordinators: The Organisig Committee 10:00 - 10:30 Overview of the damage to cultural property in Iraq McGuire Gibson (University of Chicago, USA) Abstract I will give a brief overview of the damage to cultural property in Iraq, focusing especially on the looting of the complex housing the State Board of Antiquities and the Iraq National Museum. I will also discuss the continuing destruction of sites through looting, military action, and development efforts. After some treatment of actions taken by various national and international bodies, I will and then invite the participants to give details on their own work to remedy the situation. 10:30 - 11:00 Italian restoration and conservation works on materials in the Iraq Museum Carlo Lippolis (Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino, Italia) Abstract From the end of the 2003 conflict the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino, in collaboration with Italian Directorate General for Antiquities, ICR and the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage of Iraq, has planned and organised first recovery measures on artefacts and new restoration laboratories in the Iraq Museum. The paper shortly summarize the works carried out by Italian restorers in 2004 and briefly illustrate some results of a previous project (2002) in Sennacherib's Palace at Ninive. 11:00 - 11:30 Coffee break 11:30 - 12:00 Partial Reopening of the Iraq-Museum Roberto Parapetti (Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino, Italia) Abstract In agreement with the State Board of Antiquity and Heritage of Iraq, Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Sacavi di Torino, already in the fall of 2003 started the necessary steps to make possible the re-opening of a sector of the Iraq Museum. The project aims at providing Iraqi citizens and visitors with the starting signal of a reconstruction process of the national identity through the re-conquest of their cultural heritage. In order to assure the highest security conditions on a medium-short term basis, the project foresees the re-opening of a few exhibition areas, where unmovable artefacts are already exposed, excluding those which were originally exhibited in show-cases. Therefore, the gallery of the monumental Assyrian sculpture from Nimrud and Khorsabad and the Islamic hall that gather a rich repertory of the architectural decoration, seemed to be the most appropriate spaces for the implementation of the project. Besides the above mentioned halls, the main porticoed courtyard was considered suitable for the exhibition of samples of Parthian sculptures from Hatra that since 1991, were transferred, for safety reason, to the Iraq Museum, but not exhibited. 12:00 - 12:30 Training program for restorers and archaeological conservators of the Iraq Museum Roberta Menegazzi (Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino, Italia) Abstract After the summer 2004 the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino decided to develop the training activities for the restorers of the Iraq Museum in Amman. In December 2004, at the local Department of Antiquities started a full-immersion training program for restorers and archaeological conservators. During the whole period of the courses, the trainees had the chance to practise restoring Iraqi archaeological artefacts. The storerooms of the Amman Department of Antiquities preserved a large amount of antiquities confiscated by the Jordanian Customs and Police Authorities. Apart from the above mentioned training session, the archaeologists and experts of the Centro Scavi di Torino recorded the seized materials. The result of this working phase is the recently published catalogue “An Endangered Cultural Heritage: Iraqi Antiquities Recovered in Jordan”. 12:30 - 13:00 - Salah Salman Rumaiydh (Direction of Search and Investigation and Excavation, Iraq) Abstract 13:00 - 14:30 General Discussion