Iraq Project: the Virtual Museum of Baghdad

Silvia Chiodi

«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2007, Supplemento 1, 101-122

Abstract

The author describes the origin of “Iraq Project: the Virtual Museum of Baghdad”, and discusses two projects which have been approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE). As part of the humanitarian mission of stabilization and reconstruction in Iraq, they intended to contribute to the funding of activities and initiatives aimed at the reconstruction and safeguarding as well as the enhancement of the Iraqi cultural heritage. A few days after the entry of the US army into Baghdad, the looting and partial destruction of the exhibits were gradually removed to the storerooms that were sealed in 2004. Only the exhibits which were impossible to move remained in their original places. Beginning with the assumption that very few people in the world have been fortunate enough to visit the Iraq Museum and that the Museum will probably be closed for a long time, we felt that it was necessary to reconstruct it virtually so that the visitor could enter, wander through and observe the most important exhibits kept there. At the same time, the Virtual Museum makes it possible to explore and get to know the ancient civilizations and the geographical context in which these arose. The Virtual Museum should facilitate the utilization and understanding of the cultural, historic and scientific artifacts of the Museum without limits of space and time. An analytical presentation is provided that is extremely rich in content, flexible and lends itself to personalization by the user. It offers in addition the advantage of a presentation made possible by instruments for the simplification and narration required for a public of non-specialists.

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