The Sulaymaniyah Museum (Slemani Museum) holds one of the finest collections of Mesopotamian antiquities in Iraq outside Baghdad, spanning five thousand years of history from the Neolithic period through the Islamic era. The collections include cuneiform tablets, cylinder seals, bronze weapons and tools, Assyrian reliefs, and a remarkable run of material from the Bronze Age sites of the Sulaymaniyah region.
The museum occupies a purpose-built building in central Sulaymaniyah and has undergone significant renovation and expansion in recent years. Display standards are good by regional standards, with labelling in Kurdish, Arabic, and English. Allow at least two hours for a serious visit.
The museum is particularly strong on the pre-Assyrian cultures of the Kurdish mountain zone — material that is rarely displayed at this depth anywhere else — and on the Islamic period collections that document the centuries of urban life in Sulaymaniyah and the surrounding valleys.