Restoration work had slowed almost to a stop because of wars and UN sanctions, but it has started to recover recently. Baghdad has also revived efforts to preserve and protect its ancient heritage, which is a much bigger job.

Ancient remains

Hundreds of kilometres south of Iraq, archaeologists carefully scrape away rock and sand covering the remains of a 5,000-year-old city - so far they've found the remains of a temple, a palace and a cemetery.

It's 60 degrees, there's no shade, and the incessant wind is like the breath of a dragon, but these hardy workers are not only exploring the past, they're protecting it.

Sites like these were looted during the chaos after the 1991 Gulf war and the years of poverty that followed. Four thousand artefacts were also stolen from regional museums, some by organised smuggling rackets.

For the most part, the department of antiquities watched helplessly, until it decided recently that it must try a new approach.

"We tried all kinds of protection, but the best idea was to go by ourselves, and be here to protect the sites with our own guards, with the workers working here," says archaeologist Donny George.

"This proved to be 100% perfect because since we came here, nothing has been lost from these cities."

Over the past two years, archaeologists have begun excavations at 21 threatened sites. This is only part of a plan to resurrect Iraq's rich heritage, a history of civilisations that range from the ancient Sumerian to the medieval Islamic.

National Museum

This year Baghdad re-opened the national Iraq Museum for the first time since the Gulf War. Its precious artefacts were hidden for most of the past decade to protect them from theft or destruction.

Now the collection is back on display, including a prehistoric skeleton, statues of gods, and superb Assyrian stone reliefs that impress a class of visiting school girls.

Restoring Iraq's past is a presidential priority. Saddam Hussein issued a decree several years ago to get the work back on track. He even allocated a budget, although no one can say how much or where the money comes from.

Iraq has since recovered thousands of stolen pieces with the help of neighbouring Jordan.

"We are working, excavating and making restoration projects," says Donny George. "The Iraq museum is now open, and the regional museums are opening up too."

The task is still enormous: Iraq has some 10,000 archaeological sites and an official protection force of 2,000. It's impossible to say how much Baghdad has lost and may never recover.

Recent efforts though are restoring not only the sites but a sense of national pride, and have increased Iraq's determination to some day finish the job.