The Basra Museum, Iraq, has been awarded a grant of £460, 000 from the Cultural Protection Fund to build three new galleries.
The Basra Museum opened in September 2016 in one of Saddam Hussein’s former places.
The Friends of Basrah Museum, a UK registered charity, will work with the Department of Antiquities and Heritage in Basra, and the State Board of Antiquities in Baghdad to transfer important cultural artifacts that have been stored in Baghdad since 2003.
The £30 million Cultural Protection Fund was set up by the UK’s Department for Culture Media and Sport Opens and the British Council to “help to create sustainable opportunities for economic and social development through building capacity to foster, safeguard and promote cultural heritage affected by conflict overseas.
“The Fund aims to protect and preserve physical monuments and religious sites, as well as ‘intangible’ heritage: inherited traditions, beliefs and cultural identity, passed down through generations – all of which have been increasingly under threat in the Middle East and North Africa as so-called Islamic State have gained power in the region.”
The Cultural Protection Fund is now accepting grant applications.
https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/20122016-the-basra-museum-in-iraq-gets-funding-to-complete-three-galleries
