Iraq national museum goes hi-tech

2009-11-26 08:52 BJT

Unfortunately, protection didn't come soon enough for thousands of cultural artifacts in war-torn Iraq. But at least now, a virtual tour of the Iraq National Museum will be made possible at the beginning of 2010, by using state-of-the-art technology from Google.

CEO and Chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt, along with members of Iraq's Antiquities and Heritage Board have announced a project to make a virtual tour of the Iraq National Museum a reality early next year.

The project, the first of its kind at any museum, will digitize and electronically catalogue artifacts at the Iraq National Museum, allowing global access to the collection.

The move is part of an ongoing commitment by US institutions to partner with Iraqis under the strategic framework agreement to help support and showcase Iraq's rich cultural heritage and history.

Schmidt said that the US State Department and a group of Google employees have taken more than 14,000 images of antiquities in the Museum that will be available to the world at the beginning of 2010.

Iraq National Museum, which held thousands of artifacts from ancient Mesopotamia, one of the world's earliest civilizations, was looted along with other institutions as US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in April, 2003.

Editor: Liu Fang | Source: CCTV.com