Iraq opens first Jewish Museum in Baghdad to preserve community history

The Iraqi Jewish community opened the Shamash Jewish Museum in Baghdad in October 2026 to showcase the history and cultural contributions of Jews in Iraq.

The museum is located on Al-Rashid Street in a building that previously served as the Shamash Jewish School. Yaqub Shlomo Shamash established the school in 1928 to provide English language education to children from various religious backgrounds.

The museum displays photographs and historical documents that highlight prominent Iraqi Jews such as Sassoon Eskell, the country's first finance minister, and physician Dhafer Fouad Eliyahu. Ammar al-Tamimi, a lawyer for the committee managing Iraqi Jewish communal properties, stated that this is the only museum in the country belonging to the Jewish community.

The project follows a long period of difficulty, including the confiscation of the property by authorities in the 1970s and a 1992 court ruling that eventually restored ownership to the Jewish community. While the museum aims to preserve a 2,600 year history of Jews in Iraq, some descendants living abroad expressed concerns about their involvement.

JIMENA, an organization representing Jews from the Middle East and North Africa, noted that Iraqi laws prohibiting relations with Israel prevent many descendants from visiting the site. The organization wants displaced Iraqi Jews to have a say in decisions regarding communal property and historical preservation.