The Nimrud Rescue Project

ABSTRACT

The Nimrud Rescue Project is a collaborative project to recover fragments of Neo-Assyrian sculptures bombed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in 2015–2016, and to develop a long-term plan for the preservation and use of the site and its architectural remains through capacity-building and support of Iraqi heritage professionals. The Smithsonian Institution has been working with colleagues from the Nineveh Provincial Office of the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) since early 2017. The project is one of many managed through a partnership with the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage (IICAH) in Erbil, Iraq. The Smithsonian has approached recovery and preservation of the site in partnership with Iraqi stewards. Together with the SBAH Nineveh Directorate, the Smithsonian worked to define site needs and develop the skills required by the cadre of local archaeologists (called the ‘Nimrud Rescue Team’, or NRT) to recover and protect stone sculpture fragments scattered across the site. A purpose-built storage facility has been completed and the NRT has begun the process of recovery using the ‘First Aid to Cultural Heritage in Times of Crisis’ (FAC) methodology developed by ICCROM and others for organized recovery of cultural heritage objects after a disaster.

KEYWORDS:

• Nimrud
• Iraq
• recovery
• archaeological site
• capacity-building
• neo-Assyrian
• sculpture
• post-conflict

Acknowledgements

This article was funded in part by a grant from the United States Department of State. The opinions, findings and conclusions stated herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Department of State. All Smithsonian work in Iraq takes place in partnership with the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, SBAH, and the IICAH with support from the University of Delaware. Many thanks to Smithsonian colleagues, Paula DePriest, Liz Kirby, Robert Koestler, Richard Kurin, Marie Morse, Elizabeth Tunick, Stephanie Wezowicz and Corine Wegener. Special thanks for the support of Shangri La Museum of Islamic Culture, Art and Design and Konrad Ng; and University of Delaware partners Debra Hess-Norris and Lisa Huber. María de las Mercedes Martínez-Milantchí collected the published information on past restoration work at Nimrud used to develop this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of State under Interagency Agreement number SIAA17ECA003-001 and Cooperative Agreement SLMAQM17CA2055; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation – Museum Conservation Institute's Directorship Endowment [grant number G-40700657]; gifts from the J.M. Kaplan Fund and Bank of America; and Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute Federal and Trust Funds.