• Address:

    INLA, Baghdad, Iraq

  • Client:

    Czech Foreign Ministry

  • Description of the work:

    Urgent restoration research

  • Realization:

    2004

In 2004, Czech restorers were the first who started in Baghdad working on projects to preserve Iraq's cultural heritage. The first steps led to the damaged Iraqi National Library and Archive (INLA), as a part of the Czech government's post-war reconstruction aid program for Iraq at that time.

In Iraq, the National Library forms one institution with the National Archive. Because its so-called “old building” was located near the former Ministry of Defense buildings and served as the central government archive, the building was deliberately burned down twice after the capture of Baghdad by the US army in April 2003.

While part of the archive was irretrievably burnt, the library collection was surprisingly unharmed by the fire. Most of the documents in the archive were burned by state institutions, power ministries and military courts. Some of the documents that did not burn were flooded in a makeshift storage facility from a burst water main in July 2003. The micrographic department, including the microfilm archive, was virtually destroyed.

The extent of the damage was professionally assessed and appropriate rescue procedures were proposed. To save the valuable flooded collections of the “Ottoman Archive”, Czech restorers used the experience of freeze-drying (lyophilization) used in Prague after the 2002 floods. The research and the cooperation with the Ministry of Culture laid the basis for the following projects: restoration courses, supply of equipment and materials for restoration and conservation departments, not only for the Iraqi National Library.