[MSN] Baghdad's museum to stay closed despite renovation of galleries, Iraqi official says in Athens

[MSN]

Baghdad's museum to stay closed despite renovation of galleries, Iraqi
official says in Athens


2008-03-18 21:39:08 - 


ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Baghdad's National Museum, a treasure trove of
antiquities from the stone age and Babylon to the Assyrians and Islamic art,
cannot open to the public despite the renovation of two of its galleries
nearing completion, an Iraqi official said Tuesday.
Italy has been involved in the renovation, which will be completed by May or
June, Louis Godart, adviser on culture to the Italian president, said at an
international conference in Athens on returning cultural objects to their
countries of origin.
But believing that this would lead to the museum opening <is a wrong
concept,> said Bahaa Mayah, adviser to Iraq's Ministry of Tourism and
Antiquities.
<We are not planning to open,> Mayah said. <We are planning to have it ready
for opening, but it's different to saying we will open.
One option being considered was to open the museum selectively for
prearranged visits by dignitaries, he said.
Speaking to reporters at the conference, Mayah said the museum, which is
struggling to rebuild its collection after it was looted in April 2003 in
the U.S.-led invasion, is still in a terrible state.
<It's very ... painful to see inside the museum,> he said. <We lack
everything. Just there is a building. But the building is not equipped, it's
not ready.
He said it lacked a security system, a reliable supply of electricity or a
fire system. The museum's roughly 200,000 items were being kept <in an
unsuitable environment,> Mayah said. <Something must be done.
While Italy was helping by restoring part of the museum, the Iraqi official
said help was not forthcoming from other countries.
But some offer an alternative view on whether the museum should remain
closed.
The U.S. investigator who led the probe into the looting of museum in 2003,
U.S. Marine Reserve Col. Matthew Bogdanos, argued that it should open.
<I would open the museum tomorrow,> Bogdanos told The Associated Press on
the sidelines of the conference. <If you close the museum, the bad guys win.
This is the point. This is what the bad guys want. They're winning. So open
the museum.
He said he fully recognizes that security in Baghdad, albeit improved since
mid-2007, remains precarious. Bombings are still a weekly occurrence, with
targets ranging from liquor stores to market places and job recruiting
centers.
<I'm not a complete idiot; I understand the issues,> he said. But he pointed
out that the museum was a fortified military position before the war. With a
wall around the compound and the galleries far from the street, it would be
relatively protected.
Opening it, even if it's not entirely ready and only a few galleries were
available to the public, would be a first step, he said.
<It also promotes pride; pride in the people who are visiting, pride in the
neighborhood that it's situated in and pride in the employees to work a
little harder,> Bogdanos said.
There is no doubt that the opening of the museum would be a target for
bombers, he said. But the same holds true for much in Iraq.
<You can say that about police recruiting station in downtown Baghdad. Does
that mean you shouldn't have a police recruiting station? No.
But there is another consideration.
Maysoon al-Bayati, media official at the museum, said there were fears of
renewed looting because of the security situation, and that if the building
became a target for bombers, the explosions could damage the museum's
priceless artifacts.
<We are afraid of bombings,> he said in Baghdad. <The explosions can harm
the archaeological artifacts ... We are afraid if we open the museum,
bombers with explosive belt would come and damage the museum.
Associated Press writer Bushra Juhi in Baghdad contributed to this report. 

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