BBC News Online: World: Middle East

Iraqi museum reopens after ten-year closure

Iraq has re-opened its national museum in the capital, Baghdad, nearly ten years after it was closed to avoid damage at the start of the Gulf War.

The museum houses one of the world's most important archaeological collections, consisting of more than ten thousand items from the ancient civilisations of Mesopotamia and elsewhere.

These include a Neanderthal skeleton and the remains of a royal tomb from the biblical city of Ur.

Opening the museum, the Iraqi Culture Minister , Humam Abdul Khaleq, said the world should compare this legacy of civilisation with what he called the uncivilised aggression against Iraq.

A BBC correspondent says that, during the closure, some exhibits disappeared or were smuggled abroad.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service