Erbil Stones and Gems Museum is a small museum located within the Citadel of Erbil, at the heart of the city of Erbil (Hawler), the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Erbil Stones and Gems Museum is a small museum located within the Citadel of Erbil, at the heart of the city of Erbil (Hawler), the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.
The museum was founded (and is owned) by Sarbast Majeed. [1] Majeed, a graduate of Mosul College of Sciences, Department of Geology in 1985, had gathered his 40-year collection of gemstones from many parts of the world and displayed it originally in a house in the small city of Shaqlawa (northeast of Hawler) in 2014. [2]
In 2016, the museum was relocated to the Citadel of Erbil and now occupies one of the traditional 2-story renovated buildings.
The museum displays a multitude of common and rare stones and gems from within Iraq and many other countries as well as meteorite fragments and fossils and a variety of other items; the first and only of its kind in the Republic of Iraq and its Kurdistan Region. [3] There is a shop on the 1st (upper) floor that sells genuine stones as well as replicas. The museum's entry is 1500 Iraqi Dinars (approximately $1.0). No-flash photography is allowed but photography of any kind within the shop is prohibited.
Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silica (SiO2·nH2O); its water content may range from 3 to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6 and 10%. Due to its amorphous property, it is classified as a mineraloid, unlike crystalline forms of silica, which are considered minerals. It is deposited at a relatively low temperature and may occur in the fissures of almost any kind of rock, being most commonly found with limonite, sandstone, rhyolite, marl, and basalt.
Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also includes parts of southeastern Turkey, northern Syria, and northwestern Iran. Much of the geographical and cultural region of Iraqi Kurdistan is part of the Kurdistan Region (KRI), an autonomous region recognized by the Constitution of Iraq. As with the rest of Kurdistan, and unlike most of the rest of Iraq, the region is inland and mountainous.
The Little Zab or Lower Zab is a river that originates in Iran and joins the Tigris just south of Al Zab in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The Little Zab is approximately 400 kilometres (250 mi) long and drains an area of about 22,000 square kilometres (8,500 sq mi). The river is fed by rainfall and snowmelt, resulting in a peak discharge in the spring and low water in the summer and early fall. Two dams built on the Little Zab regulate the river flow, providing water for irrigation and generating hydroelectricity. The Zagros Mountains have been populated since at least the Lower Palaeolithic, but the earliest archaeological site in the Little Zab basin, Barda Balka, dates to the Middle Palaeolithic. Human occupation of the Little Zab basin has been attested for every period since then.
The Great Zab or Upper Zab is an approximately 400-kilometre (250 mi) long river flowing through Turkey and Iraq. It rises in Turkey near Lake Van and joins the Tigris in Iraq south of Mosul. During its course, the river collects water from many tributaries and the drainage basin of the Great Zab covers approximately 40,300 square kilometres (15,600 sq mi). The river and its tributaries are primarily fed by rainfall and snowmelt – as a result of which discharge fluctuates highly throughout the year. At least six dams have been planned on the Great Zab and its tributaries, but construction of only one, the Bekhme Dam, has commenced but was halted after the Gulf War.
The Erbil Citadel, locally called Qelat is a tell or occupied mound, and the historical city centre of Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The citadel has been included in the World Heritage List since 21 June 2014.
Erbil International Airport, is the main airport of the city of Erbil in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq. It is administered by the Iraqi Government and the Kurdistan Regional Government under a committee consisting of the Prime Minister of Kurdistan and is one of two international airports, with a third in Duhok being under construction. The new modern airport opened in 2005. The airport has one of the longest runways in the world.
A Qaysari bazaar is a type of covered bazaar typical of Kurdistan and Iraq.
Hawler Medical University is a public university located in the heart of Erbil, the capital city of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It was established in 2005 by the Kurdistan Regional Government's Council of Ministers. The university was founded to house the medical group colleges that were previously part of the Salahaddin University-Erbil. The overall goal of Hawler Medical University's formation was to strengthen medical education in the Kurdistan region, as well as to have better and more effective college management.
Erbil, also called Hawler, is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city is in the Erbil Governorate.
Rudaw Media Network, is a major media broadcaster in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq.
English Village is a British-built luxury housing compound located in western Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. The compound contains identical villas, the vast majority of which are used as offices for companies. English Village is among several modern compounds in Erbil named after Western countries, such as American Village, Italian Village and German Village. It represents an economic boom that occurred in Erbil at the turn of the 2010s.
The Erbil Civilization Museum is an archeological museum which is located within the city of Hawler, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. It is the second largest museum in Iraqi Kurdistan, after the Sulaymaniyah Museum in Sulaymaniyah Governorate in terms of contents and collections. It houses artifacts which date back to the pre-historic period to the late Abbasid period.
The Erbil 1 Tower, also known as Zaniary Tower, is a 48-story, 180 m (591 ft) tall multi-use skyscraper in the heart of Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The E1 Tower is the tallest building in the country. The project was part of Kirmanj Construction Company owned by Eng. Sabah Noori Ali whose objective is to develop and revitalize the area, opening new opportunities for people and enhancing the quality and standard of living of people in the area. The building is of reinforced concrete and all the concrete totaling up to 40,000 m3 is being supplied by Lafarge company, the leading concrete supplier in Iraq and Kurdistan Region and internationally.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Iraq was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. During the pandemic, Iraq reported its first confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections on 22 February 2020 in Najaf. By April, the number of confirmed cases had exceeded the hundred mark in Baghdad, Basra, Sulaymaniyah, Erbil and Najaf.
The Syriac Heritage Museum is a museum in Erbil, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Erbil, Kurdistan Region.
The Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals are a series of exhibition halls at the American Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. The halls opened on June 12, 2021, as a complete redesign of their predecessors, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Hall of Gems and Minerals and Morgan Memorial Hall of Gems. The halls feature thousands of rare gems, mineral specimens and pieces of jewelry.
The Turkmen Culture House is an exhibition located within the Citadel of Erbil, in the center of Erbil, northern Iraq. It was officially inaugurated on September 5, 2021.
The Kurdistan Music Archive is a one-room exhibition-like archive that occupies one of the renovated traditional buildings at the Citadel of Erbil. The current director is Amjad Assad. Assad, almost working alone with no external help, has been digitizing, for several years, thousands of cassette tapes and 78 rpm phonographs of Kurdish music and songs spanning about 100 years. Originally, the archive was established in 1952 by his grandfather at the old bazaar of Hawler's downtown. The entire archive was relocated to its current location at the citadel in 2017. The objective behind creating this archive is to preserve the Kurdish heritage of songs and its folklore.
36°11′25″N44°00′34″E / 36.19018°N 44.00932°E
