Progetti e formazione_iraq_mirjaniya-en

MIRJANYIA 2013-2017

Reconstruction of the Iraq Museum of Baghdad

The Prayer Hall of the al-Mirjanya Madrasa

In 1969, based on the Agreement between Italy and Iraq on Scientific and Cultural Cooperation, the Italian-Iraqi Centre for the Restoration of Monuments (CIIRM) and the Italian-Iraqi Institute of Archaeology (IIIA) were founded in Baghdad. Their purpose consisted in the active Italian collaboration in the project initiatives requested by the Iraqi authorities (State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, SBAH) in the specific sectors. Their management was entrusted for the Italian part to the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino – CRAST, directed by Prof. Giorgio Gullini, professor of Archaeology at the University of Turin, already active in Iraq since 1964 with the Italian Archaeological Expedition in Seleucia and Ctesiphon. Arch. Roberto Parapetti has been the director of CIIRM since 1972. In 2012, with the renewal of the Cultural Agreement between Italy and Iraq, the previous two Institutes were defined as follows: Italian-Iraqi Cultural Center for Archaeological Sciences and Restoration (CCIISAR).

CIIRM activities 1972-2002:
– Ctesifonte: The Sasanian palace of Khosrow I.
– Baghdad: Islamic Monuments.
– Babylon: The Ishtar Gate and the South Palace of the Neo-Babylonian age.
– Baghdad: The district of the Ottoman Seraglio.
– Anah: The medieval minaret of the island on the Euphrates.
– Hatra: The Shrine of the Sun of Parthian age.
– Aqar Quf: Dur Kurigalzu’s Kassite ziqqurat.
CIRM activities 2003-2012:
– Baghdad: Reconstruction of the Iraq Museum:
Great Assyrian hall; Islamic halls; central courtyard; Assyrian north hall.
CCIISAR activities2012-2019:
– Restructuration of the new premises of the Center in Baghdad in a historic building in front of the Qishlah (Ottoman barracks in the Haya s-Seray neighbourhood), granted by the Ministry of Culture.
– Training courses, exhibitions, concerts, etc.
Monumenta Orientalia activities 2012-2018:–
– Reconstruction of the prayer hall of the Mirjaniya Madrasa.

The project is inspired by the erroneous composition of decorative fragments, already in the Iraq Museum, derived from the demolition in 1946 of the Mirjaniya madrasa (school/college), one of the most important monuments of medieval Baghdad. The project consists in the relocation of the fragments in their original position, of the mosaic decoration of bricks (girih) of the prayer room (musalla) in a new full-scale building, replica of the ancient monument, which stands in the courtyard adjacent to the current Islamic Gallery. Other fragments of the monumental epigraphic repertoire (naqsh) will have to be recomposed and relocated. The project, submitted by Monumenta Orientalia for the continuation of the interventions in the Islamic collection of the Iraq Museum to the Italian and Iraqi authorities, was financed by the MAECI (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, DGAP). For its realization, a supporting structure in steel sections was provided in the service courtyard, which was connected to the Islamic Gallery, reproducing the interior space of the prayer hall of the ancient madrasa and the correct replacement of the decorations.

The Reconstruction of the Prayer Hall of the Madrasa al Mirjaniya of Baghdad

Miniatura di epoca abasí (1054-1121)

Miniatura di epoca abasside (1054-1121)

Louis Massignon (1906)

Khan Mirjan, portale di ingresso prima del 1906

Cupola della tomba di Mirjan abd al-Rahman

1928 - Lavori di restauro di Pasha ‘Ayan

1945-48 - Demolizione

Scoperte

1972 - Restauro e ricostruzione

Trasferimento di alcune decorazioni (hazarbaf) al Iraq Museum negli anni '60