The retrieved artifacts include 173 pieces, an archeological painting and two artistic paintings, said a readout from the Ministry of Culture.
Its minister Abdulameer al-Hamdani and Foreign Affairs counterpart Mohammed Ali al-Hakim jointly announced the return of the artifacts on display was secured through the country’s diplomatic missions. Then they officially signed paperwork for the artifacts to be handed back to the culture ministry.
"It is a happy day for us as archeologists and as Iraqis to return this historical heritage. It is a special day for us, for these artifacts, pieces and works of art to return to the embrace of the mother," Hamdani said.
Retrieving the archeological items was a "holy, national duty,” he added. "Here is where civilization started. Here is where the [first] state was founded."
Some of the artifacts are retrieved from Hobby Lobby — an arts-and-crafts chain store based in the United States that came under fire for buying more than 5,000 relics from Middle Eastern dealers.
Other retrieved artifacts include clay tablets kept at Cornell University and were written in Sumerian cuneiform, while some pieces were at the Penn Museum.
"Yesterday, I received a message from the Pergamonmuseum in Berlin that they are about to give us a second copy of Ishtar's Gate,” the Iraqi Culture Minister added, referring to the museum in the German capital that has also sometimes come under criticism for preserving Middle Eastern relics.
In 1926, the Ishtar Gate was taken from historic Babylon for maintenance. Baghdad has been informed it will be returned.
Video from the ceremony showed the foreign ministry officially handing over the artifacts to the culture ministry.
Other artifacts included archeological pieces from the Museum of the Mediterranean and Near East Antiquities in Sweden, and pottery fragments from Kokushikan University in Japan.
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The foreign affairs ministry said some of the retrieved artifacts had British stamps which were seized by UK authorities during attempted operations by smugglers.
Some pottery fragments that had been "lend" to the head of a Polish archeological mission in Iraq for tests in 1985 and were also retrieved.
"This is a happy moment for Iraq, and also for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture,” the Foreign Minister said.
Iraq’s ministries do not always fully cooperate in Baghdad, but the foreign and culture officials were happy to be retrieving "all that has been stolen" of the country’s heritage and artifacts.
There are 5,300 Iraqi artifacts that will "soon" be returned to Iraq, added Hakim: "They have been gathered from universities, museums, and even individuals who had bought these pieces.”
Even private individuals in possession of artifacts are returning them to Iraq, he revealed: "We really thank our partners, and our friends who really worked hard with us to return some of these artifacts.
"The international community currently stands with Iraq, and there is a high level coordination,” asserted Iraq’s Minister of Culture Hamdani.
Iraq is considering a new national museum as a result of this new development, he revealed.
Iraq’s historical remnant has been under attack especially since 2003, with government neglect and lack of security and rampant looting by Iraqis and foreigners during cycles of violence.
During Islamic State (ISIS) control of Nineveh, many artifacts in museums, and heritage sites such as the Imam Younis shrine were all blown up to pieces or shattered by the extremists. Others were destroyed or transformed for not adhering to ISIS doctrine.
As Iraq enters relative stability, debate rages between local and foreign historians, archaeologists, preservationists, curators, and everyday Iraqis about how to best deal with the country and Mesopotamian history.
