Erbil Civilization Museum

The Erbil Civilization Museum is an archeological museum which is located within the city of Hawler, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. It is the second largest museum in Iraqi Kurdistan, after the Sulaymaniyah Museum in Sulaymaniyah Governorate in terms of contents and collections. It houses artifacts which date back to the pre-historic period to the late Abbasid period. The very first building of the Museum was established in mid-1960 and contained few artifacts. The building was small and was located within the heart of the city of Hawler, at the Minarah district. The, then, Erbil Archaeological Inspection Directorate was responsible for administering the museum. In the mid-1970s, the museum building was relocated into the Citadel of Erbil.

The museum was administered by the General Directorate of Archaeology in Baghdad. After then, many artifacts, from different ancient periods were transferred from the Iraqi Museum in Baghdad to the museum as a permanent loan. The content and collections of the museum grew tremendously. Another project to establish a new building was started in 1985 to accommodate the increasing number of artifacts. The current building was opened in 1989, after the end of the Iraq-Iran war 1980-1988 and lies close to the ancient tell of Qalinj Agha.