Google will document the treasures of Iraq's national museum and exhibit on the Internet photographs of artefacts belonging to the ancient civilizations at the beginning of next year, announced Tuesday the director of Google, Eric Schmidt.
The museum was looted during the chaos that followed the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in April 2003, and was only reopened to the public earlier this year. Schmidt, who toured the museum on Tuesday with U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill, said it was important that the world would see the rich heritage of Iraq and its contribution to Western civilization.
"The story of the origins, practically, civilization took place here and has been preserved in this museum," Schmidt said at a ceremony attended by Iraqi officials.
"I can think of no better way to use our time and resources that make the images and ideas of civilization, from the very beginning, at the disposal of billions of people around the world," he said.
Schmidt said Google has taken 14,000 photographs of the museum and its parts, and the images will be available on the Internet in early 2010.
The antiquities found in the vast repository of museum pieces elsewhere in the country will also be photographed as they become available and then will be placed on the Internet, he said.
The museum is among many entities, including universities, hospitals, libraries and art galleries that were looted or burned across Iraq in the days and weeks that followed the fall of Saddam.
The museum contains exhibits from the Stone Age to the era of Babylon, the Assyrian culture and Islamic periods. The richness of its collection and its importance as the curator of the relics of early civilizations provoked a worldwide outcry.
U.S. troops, the only power in the city at that time, has been strongly criticized for failing to protect the treasures of the museum and other cultural institutions like the National Library and the Saddam Art Center, a museum of modern Iraqi art.
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