The Sulaymaniyah Museum (; ), or Slemani Museum, is an archeological

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

located in

Sulaymaniyah Sulaymaniyah or Slemani (; ), is a city in the east of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and is the capital of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate. It is surrounded by the Azmar (Ezmer), Goizha (Goyje) and Qaiwan (Qeywan) Mountains in the northeast, Bara ...

in the

Kurdistan Region Kurdistan Region (KRI) is a semi-autonomous Federal regions of Iraq, federal region of the Iraq, Republic of Iraq. It comprises four Kurds, Kurdish-majority governorates of Arabs, Arab-majority Iraq: Erbil Governorate, Sulaymaniyah Governorate ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. It is the second largest museum in Iraq, after the

National Museum of Iraq The Iraq Museum () is the national museum of Iraq, located in Baghdad. It is sometimes informally called the National Museum of Iraq. The Iraq Museum contains precious relics from the Mesopotamian, Abbasid, and Persian civilizations. It was loo ...

in Baghdad. It houses artifacts dating from the

prehistoric period Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

to the late Islamic and Ottoman periods. Several halls of the museum have undergone renovation work and the museum was closed to the public for refurbishment from October 1, 2018, to October 2019.

History

Opening

The museum was opened officially on July 14, 1961. Initially, it was composed of a small building in the Shorsh District. After several years, the museum acquired a new and large building in the heart of Salim Street in the year 1980. The current building has an area of 6000 square meters and is a one-story building. The artifacts are displayed in one small hall (which was renovated by the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

in 2023) and two large and long halls which are connected by a square-shaped and open lecture hall. During the Iraq-Iran war (1980–1988), the museum was closed entirely to the public. It was reopened for a very short period in 1990. After the

Iraqi invasion of Kuwait The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, codenamed Project 17, began on 2 August 1990 and marked the beginning of the Gulf War. After defeating the State of Kuwait on 4 August 1990, Iraq went on to militarily occupy the country for the next seven months ...

in August 1990, the museum was closed once again. It was re-opened officially by

Jalal Talabani Jalal Talabani (; ; 1933 – 3 October 2017) was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the sixth president of Iraq from 2005 to 2014, as well as the president of the Governing Council of Iraq. Talabani was the founder and secretary-gene ...

on August 20, 2000; Talabani was the secretary general of the

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK; ) is a political party active in Kurdistan Region and the Disputed territories of Northern Iraq, disputed territories in Iraq. The PUK describes its goals as self-determination, human rights, democracy a ...

at that time.

Post-2003

After the US-led invasion of Iraq and subsequent

looting Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

of the

National Museum in Baghdad The Iraq Museum () is the national museum of Iraq, located in Baghdad. It is sometimes informally called the National Museum of Iraq. The Iraq Museum contains precious relics from the Mesopotamian, Abbasid, and Persian civilizations. It was loot ...

, the Sulaymaniyah Museum helped to recover and return stolen artifacts through the controversial practice of buying looted artifacts.

UNESCO

Since 2011, the museum has been collaborating with the UNESCO to develop and renovate the museum and expand its building.

Paikuli Gallery

The Sulaymaniyah Museum in collaboration with the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

opened a new gallery on June 10, 2019. The gallery was sponsored by the

Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation ( or ''MAECI'') is the foreign ministry of the government of the Italian Republic. It is also known as the Farnesina as a metonym from its headquarters, the Palazzo della Farnesina ...

(MAECI) and the Ministry of Cultural Heritage (MiBAC). All of the inscribed stone blocks (including many newly discovered ones after 2006) of the commemorative monument of the

Sassanian The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

king

Narseh Narseh (also spelled Narses or Narseus; ) was the seventh King of Kings of Sasanian Iran from 293 to 303. The youngest son of Shapur I (), Narseh served as the governor of Sakastan, Hind and Turan under his father. Shapur I was eventually s ...

() were displayed for the very first time to the public. In addition, many building stone blocks and some Sassanian coins and bullae were also included in this permanent exhibition.

Slemani Museum Kids

On September 5, 2019, the Sulaymaniyah Museum inaugurated a hall dedicated to children and called it "Slemani Museum Kids." The hall has many teaching and demonstrative tools for children. This small museum is the first bespoke museum space for children in Iraq. The Consul General of the UK in Kurdistan, Slemani governor, and Director-General of the Directorate of Archaeology and Antiquities in Kurdistan have attended the event, as well as many other high-ranking officials in Kurdistan Region in addition to the public. Slemani Museum Kids was a co-creation of the project Archaeological Practice and Heritage Protection in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The project is led by the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

(UK) in collaboration with the Slemani Directorate of Antiquities and Inherit (UK) and is funded by the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

's Cultural Protection Fund, in partnership with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport.

Narseh Gallery

The Sulaymaniyah Museum and Directorate of Antiquities in collaboration with the Italian Archaeological Mission in Iraqi Kurdistan (MAIKI) created a new permanent gallery displaying for the very first time four large busts of the Sassanian king Narseh (in high reliefs) and one large bust carved in the round. These once decorated the Paikuli Tower, Southern West Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan, and date back to . The gallery was officially inaugurated on October 24, 2021.

Prehistory Gallery

The Sulaymaniyah Museum renovated two large halls in order to open a new permanent exhibition displaying hundreds of artifacts dating back to the prehistoric period. The artifacts mainly came from Iraqi Kurdistan and its Paleolithic caves, in addition to several recently excavated ancient sites and mounds. The project was sponsored by the

Embassy of the United States of America The United States has the second largest number of active diplomatic posts of any country in the world after the People's Republic of China, including 272 bilateral posts (embassies and consulates) in 174 countries, as well as 11 permanent miss ...

. The exhibition was supposed to be opened in early March 2020, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, the inauguration date was deferred. It was officially inaugurated on February 2, 2021.

Tablet V of the Epic of Gligamesh

The newly discovered tablet V of the

Epic of Gilgamesh The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, epic from ancient Mesopotamia. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian language, Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames"), king of Uruk, some of ...

, which dates back to the old Babylonian period, 2003–1595 BC is currently housed in the Museum. In 2023, a new

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

translation was made by the Sulaymaniyah Museum for the film '' Where is Gilgamesh?'' (Karzan Kardozi, 2024) a Kurdish feature film based on the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Gallery

File:Tablet V of the Epic of Gligamesh.JPG, Tablet V of the

File:Stela of Iddi-Sin, King of Simurrum. It dates back to the Old-Babylonian Period. From Qarachatan Village, Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan. The Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraq.jpg, Stela of Iddi-Sin, King of

Simurrum Simurrum (: ''Si-mu-ur-ri-im'') was an important city state of the Mesopotamian area from around 2000 BCE to 1500 BCE, during the period of the Akkadian Empire down to Ur III. The Simurrum Kingdom disappears from records after the Old Babylonian ...

, Old-Babylonian Period File:Stone block with Paikuli inscription.JPG, Stone block with

Paikuli inscription The Paikuli inscription (, , in ) is a bilingual text corpus in Parthian and Middle Persian, inscribed on the stone blocks of the Paikuli Tower's walls. The tower is located in the southern part of Iraqi Kurdistan, near the modern-day village of ...

in Middle Persian File:"The lady at the window," one of the famous Nimrud ivories' plaques. The Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraq..JPG, "The lady at the window," one of the famous

Nimrud ivories The Nimrud ivories are a large group of small carved ivory plaques and figures dating from the 9th to the 7th centuries BC that were excavated from the Assyrian city of Nimrud (in modern Ninawa Governorate, Ninawa in Iraq) during the 19th and 20 ...

' plaques File:Earrings from Shulgi.JPG, Gold earrings, the name of king

Shulgi Shulgi ( dšul-gi,(died c. 2046 BC) formerly read as Dungi) of Ur was the second king of the Third Dynasty of Ur. He reigned for 48 years, from (Middle Chronology). His accomplishments include the completion of construction of the Great ...

of Ur is inscribed File:An Inscribed stand's head mentioning the name of Entemena, ruler of Lagash, early dynastic period, c. 2400 BCE. Sulaymaniyah Museum.jpg, An Inscribed stand's head, mentioning the name of

Entemena Entemena, also called Enmetena (, ; ), was a son of Enannatum I who re-established Lagash as a power in Sumer. He defeated Il in a territorial conflict through an alliance with Lugal-kinishe-dudu of Uruk, successor to Enshakushanna, who is in ...

, Cf. Khwshnaw, A., Zólyomi, G. 2020: An abbreviated version of En-metena 1 from the Sulaymaniyah Museum. Hungarian Assyriological Review 1, 21-37. (https://harjournal.com/article/har01a02/) File:A brick stamped with the name of Ur-Nammu of Ur.JPG, A brick stamped with the name of

Ur-Nammu Ur-Nammu (or Ur-Namma, Ur-Engur, Ur-Gur, Sumerian language, Sumerian: ; died 2094 BC) founded the Sumerian Third Dynasty of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, following several centuries of Akkadian Empire, Akkadian and Gutian period, Gutian rule. Thou ...

of Ur, 2112-2094 BCE

References

* http://www.unesco.org/new/en/iraq-office/culture/museum-sector/sulaymaniyah-museum/ * http://www.unesco.org/new/en/iraq-office/about-this-office/single-view/news/sulaymaniyah_museum_opens_its_first_renovated_halls_to_public/#.VLlfLicVlRk * http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/?s=sulaymaniyah {{authority control Museums in Iraq Sulaymaniyah 1961 establishments in Iraq Museums established in 1961 Archaeological museums in Iraq