Slemani Museum... The second largest museum in Iraq

The Slemani Museum is an archaeological museum located in the heart of the city of Sulaymaniyah. It is the second largest museum in Iraq, after the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad. The museum displays many artifacts dating back to the prehistoric period, the late Islamic and the Ottoman periods.

The museum was officially opened on July 14, 1961. At the beginning, it was composed of a small building in the Shorsh neighborhood, but after several years in 1980, it acquired a new large building in the heart of Salim Street in Sulaymaniyah.

The current building has a total area of 6000 square meters and  is a one-story building. The artifacts are displayed in one small hall, which was recently renovated by the UNESCO, and two large and long halls which are connected by a square-shaped and open lecture hall.

During the Iran-Iraq war, the museum was completely closed to the public before it was reopened for a very short period in 1990. After the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, the Museum was closed once again, but it was officially reopened by President Mam Jalal on August 20, 2000, and in 2011 it was closed for maintenance by UNESCO and reopened in 2015 after reconstruction.

The Museum has been collaborating with the UNESCO to develop and renovate the Museum and expand its building since 2011. 

All of the inscribed stone blocks including many newly discovered ones of the commemorative monument of the Sassanian king Narseh are displayed in Slemani Museum, in addition to many building stone blocks and some Sassanian coins and bullae.

Slemani Museum also has a section dedicated to children, which is called "Slemani Museum Kids," and  has many teaching and demonstrative tools for children.




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