Dancers practice at the state-run Iraq Fashion House for an operetta that will display Iraq’s art, culture and history in Baghdad. Ten years after the bombs began falling on Iraq, the capital Baghdad is gearing up to host a yearlong cultural extravaganza that organizers hope will quicken the pulse of the city’s ailing cultural life. — AP

 

BAGHDAD — Sewing machines buzz inside the Iraq Fashion House as dressmakers work late into the night behind concrete blast walls readying intricately embroidered costumes. Models rehearse for an upcoming show upstairs.



The energetic atmosphere is in stark contrast to the nearby Iraqi National Museum, which remains closed to the public a decade after it was looted along with other government buildings following the US-led invasion.



On Saturday, the Iraqi capital becomes this year’s Arab Capital of Culture, and organizers are hoping to use the title to quicken the pulse of Baghdad’s ailing cultural life. Manama, Bahrain, was the last capital to hold the honor bestowed by the Arab League under a program set up in 1995 with the help of the UN Education, Science and Culture Organization program. But there are signs the battle-scarred city is not yet ready to reclaim its place among the Arab World’s cultural jewels.



Despite a staggering $500 million budget for the yearlong initiative, security remains a worry and authorities have failed to renovate several cultural buildings that were damaged or neglected following the March 2003 US-led invasion.



In the coming months, organizers are planning literary and art exhibitions, round tables on heritage and archaeology, poetry and literature symposiums, fashion shows, concerts, films and theater performances.



"This festival will be a clear message to the world that the situation in Baghdad has changed," Culture Ministry spokesman Abdul-Qadir Al-Jumaili said. "Baghdad is a city rich in history and culture and is no longer a city of bombings, death and conflict."



Baghdad was once an active cultural hub in the Arab World, but this nearly 1,250-year-old city has faded remarkably since 2003.



Deteriorating security, political tension and a more religiously conservative push on both sides of Iraq’s sectarian divide have all taken their toll.



The Department of Cinema and Theater building in central Baghdad has not been repaired since it was looted and burned in the chaotic aftermath of the invasion. Baghdad now has only four theaters and three cinemas available for the event, down from 82 before the war. The number of art galleries has dropped from 20 to four. The National Museum was also looted. Collections that were stolen or destroyed at the museum chronicled some 7,000 years of civilization in Mesopotamia, including the ancient Babylonians, Sumerians and Assyrians.



At Cinema Atlas in central Baghdad, metal bars and wooded boxes are strewn in the corridor. A board meant to display movie posters is dusty, its glass broken. Newly built stalls sell medical equipment and other items. At the entrance, a huddle of plastic tables provides seating for a sidewalk tea shop.



"Cinema and theater died after the fall of Baghdad," said Saad Hashim Abdullah, who began renting out portions of the cinema building to small-time merchants in 2003. Encouraged by improved security, he reopened the cinema in 2009, only to close it again a month later.



"This business is no longer attracting fans. It’s ruined," he said. — AP