Erbil Civilisation Museum • مۆزەخانەی شارستانی هەولێر • متحف أربيل الحضاري
Housing an impressive but small collection that spans the history of the region, it is a joy to see prehistoric, Mesopotamian, Hellenistic, Christian, and Islamic eras all represented.
Located next to the museum is a genuine archaeological site, but it is generally not accessible to tourists. Consider visiting the museum en route to another destination.
The Erbil Civilization Museum is composed of the administration office, three galleries, and a store. The museum has more than 700 items in its collection. This number is fairly small because past administrations transported most finds to Baghdad, to be part of the Iraqi Museum's national collection. The first gallery is devoted to Paleolithic (45-60,000 BC - 700 BC) finds from Shanidar Cave and Hazar Merd. The second gallery is devoted to Urartian, Hurrian, Neo-Assyrian, Seleucid, Parthian and other contemporaneous finds. The third gallery is dedicated to Islamic antiquities.