Mosul Museum

Iraqi officials on May 11 said Mosul's once-celebrated museum had entered the final stages of restorations ahead of a planned 2026 reopening after being closed to the public for 20 years.

The museum closed its doors in 2003, amid the chaos following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and was later ransacked by Islamic State group jihadists after they seized the city in 2014.

Iraq unveiled three monumental sculptures in the ancient city of Hatra on Feb. 24, newly restored after being vandalized by militants of the Islamic State group during their brief but brutal rule.

The antiquities museum in the Iraqi city of Mosul is in ruins. Piles of rubble fill exhibition halls and a massive fire in the building's basement has reduced hundreds of rare books and manuscripts to ankle-deep drifts of ash.

As Iraqi forces fight to take back Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), archaeologists trained by the British Museum are preparing for another battle; trying to save what they can of the city's heritage.

The United Nations cultural organization has condemned the ?barbaric assaults? the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group launched on World Heritage sites in Iraq and Syria, saying they may amount to war crimes.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters overran most of the historic Syrian city of Palmyra on May 20, in a blow to efforts to repel the advancing jihadists after the fall of Iraq's Ramadi.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants at Iraq?s ancient city of Hatra destroyed the archaeological site by smashing sledgehammers into its walls and shooting Kalashnikov assault rifles at priceless statues, a new militant video purportedly from the group shows.
                   

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the international community on March 8 to halt the destruction by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) of Iraqi archaeological sites, branding the smashing of priceless and ancient artifacts a "war crime".
      

The US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) must try to protect archaeological sites being destroyed by the jihadists, Iraq's tourism and antiquities minister said March 8.
      
ISIL smashed priceless artefacts at the Mosul museum, then bulldozed the city of Nimrud, which was founded in the 13th century BC.

The head of UNESCO has condemned the destruction of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in Iraq by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), saying it amounted to a "war crime."

"I condemn with the strongest force the destruction of the site at Nimrud," Irina Bokova said in a statement.