The Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage (IICAH) is a state-of-the-art educational facility in Erbil, where international experts are training Iraq’s museum and heritage professionals in the preservation of their national treasures. The IICAH offers a two-year program in objects conservation and collections care and, beginning in fall 2012, an additional curriculum in architectural and site conservation. Since 2009 IICAH instructors have trained nearly 100 Iraqi professional men and women -- Arabs and Kurds, Muslims and Christians, Sunni and Shia.

First established under the Iraq Cultural Heritage Project, the Institute is now managed by an Iraqi board of directors, and supported by a U.S.-Iraqi advisory council. The Institute’s educational partnership continues during its third year of operation with funding from private American foundations and individuals ($679,000), the Kurdistan Regional Government ($286,750), and the U.S. Department of State ($970,000) totaling over $1.9 million for 2012-2013.

IICAH Partners:

• Iraq State Board of Antiquities and Heritage
• Kurdistan Regional Government
• U.S. Department of State (Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ Cultural Heritage Center, and U.S. Embassy Baghdad)
• University of Delaware (Art Conservation Department, and Institute of Global Studies)
• Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library
• Walters Art Museum
• Getty Conservation Institute
• University of Arizona
• University of Pennsylvania

The U.S. Department of State is assisting with management planning, preservation, and educational development at the ancient site of Babylon, home to the “Tower of Babel” and Nebuchadnezzar’s wondrous “Hanging Gardens.” After concerns surfaced in 2004 about damage to Babylon, ECA’s Cultural Heritage Center published a comprehensive 618-page illustrated report (PDF) on harm done to the site during the rule of Saddam Hussein and use by coalition forces. This report has laid the foundation for current ameliorative actions. The Department has awarded $2.7 million in funding to the World Monuments Fund (WMF) to collaborate with the Iraq State Board of Antiquities and Heritage in the development of policies and practices that will ensure future preservation of the site, and serve as a model for the management of other Iraqi heritage sites. WMF also works closely with Iraqi preservationists to conserve key ancient structures damaged by erosion, neglect, and inappropriate use, including the 2,500-year-old Nabu-Sha-Khare Temple and Ishtar Gate. A $1 million field training initiative, funded by the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, will enable comprehensive classroom instruction and on-site training of Iraqi preservation specialists involved in the project.

This multi-tiered project was developed by ECA's Cultural Heritage Center in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the Iraq State Board of Antiquities and Heritage. Project activities included infrastructure upgrades to the Iraq Museum in Baghdad through refurbishment of the museum’s roof, 11 exhibition halls, 9 conservation labs, 3 floors of collections storage facilities, and installation of a new environmental control system. Other project outcomes included establishment of the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage in Erbil, and increased professional capacity in Iraq’s heritage and museum communities through:

• A training program for Iraqi professionals in preservation of buildings and sites, collections care and conservation, and museum education and management, conducted at the Field Museum of Natural History;
• The bilingual publication of reports on past excavations by Iraqi archaeologists, in collaboration with The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq; and,
• The provision of paper and electronic publications to museum libraries in Baghdad and Mosul, coordinated by Stony Brook University in collaboration with the Iraq National Museum.

The ICHP was funded by the Embassy through a $12.9 million grant awarded to the NGO International Relief and Development. Project partners included the Iraq Ministry of Culture and State Board of Antiquities and Heritage; Kurdistan Regional Government; University of Delaware Art Conservation Department; Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library; Walters Art Museum; Field Museum of Natural History; U.S. National Park Service; Stony Brook University; and the American Academic Research Institute in Iraq.