Last year, 7,607 people visited the Erbil Museum

Erbil Civil Museum is one of the most important museums of the Ministry of Municipalities and Tourism and bout 1,000 artifacts from different periods are on display in all three halls of the museum.

Visiting the museum

Erbil Civil Museum regularly welcomes local, foreign guests and students of all stages of primary and secondary education, universities and colleges.
In 2022, more than 7,607 people visited the museum, of which 422 were from Kurdistan, 326 were foreign visitors and 6,859 were students.

The history of the museum

The Erbil Civil Museum was established in the mid-1960s. At that time, the museum was very simple and was located in the Minara neighborhood of Erbil, near the current Kurdistan Parliament building. In the mid-1970s, it was moved to Salih Chalapi's house in Erbil Castle. In 1985, a new museum was built next to Qalinj Agha Hill. In 1989, the museum building was completed and officially opened to visitors. The Erbil Civil Museum is still in the same place, and the archaeological pieces inside the museum belong to the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.

The oldest archaeological pieces in the museum

The oldest archaeological pieces in the museum are those found in the cave of Shander, which include cutting tools in the shape of knives, grinding tools and other pieces that date back to the Old Stone Age and are displayed in the first hall of the museum and the the other archaeological pieces are arranged based on the historical age.