Minister of Culture: We have made great strides in recovering our stolen and smuggled antiquities

Baghdad-INA

The Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, Ahmed Fakak Al-Badrani, announced today, Thursday, that great strides have been made in recovering Iraq's stolen and smuggled antiquities.

Al-Badrani said during the celebration of Baghdad as the Arab Tourism Capital, which was organized by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), and attended by the correspondent of the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "We meet to say the most beautiful phrases about Baghdad, the enchantress of the world, as Baghdad is present in hearts and thoughts and all books and poems, as it is the mother of poetry and thought, and there is no limit to the creators who lived in Baghdad, as it was intended by everyone who wanted to acquire knowledge, literature and its various specializations and sciences," indicating that "the Baghdad School was unique in jurisprudence, language, literature, readings and maqam."

He added that "the government has taken it upon itself in this formation headed by Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, to remove the dust from two full decades, as the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities has achieved great and known steps and we were able to recover our stolen and smuggled antiquities, as thousands of antiquities were returned to Baghdad because it is the true identity of any country."

He continued that "when we enter international museums, we find from our Iraqi antiquities what enhances the value of the museum and raises its scientific and archaeological level and it is said in it from the lands of Akkad, Sumer, Babylon and Assyria, and here Baghdad is the university of all these civilizations."

He pointed out that "looking at the Islamic civilization, we find al-Mustansiriya, the Abbasid Palace and the entire Baghdad Plain area, many of which we have rebuilt with the efforts of the Prime Minister and his team, and we have also started the third phase of rehabilitating Rashid Street."