THE British Museum is experiencing a surge of visitors to its Mesopotamian and Assyrian galleries as the public develops a yearning to know more about Iraq and its great archaeological heritage.

Iraq’s heritage is that of the world. It is the cradle of civilisation and the site of the fabled cities of Ur, Babylon and Nineveh. Cuneiform writing, glass and accounting were all invented there.

The British Museum boasts the greatest collection of Mesopotamian antiquities outside Iraq. Exhibits include the iconic winged human-headed bulls and stone bas-reliefs that were found in the palaces of the Assyrian kings at Nimrud and Nineveh.

A recent survey found Mesopotamia was the museum’s third most-popular section after Egypt and Greece. Now there has been such an increase in visitors seeking out those antiquities that the museum has decided to stage a series of free gallery talks and lectures on the treasures of Iraq.

John Curtis, keeper of the Department of the Ancient Near East, said: “Mesopotamia, the land between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, was home to Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians. The astonishing remains of these ancient peoples are an important part of the world’s cultural heritage . . . With Iraq being so much in the news, people are wanting to find out something about it.”

He said: “People want to find out why Mesopotamia is called the cradle of civilisation . . . The Assyrian kings had their centres in northern Iraq.It’s all very powerful.”

Dr Curtis, who has directed excavations at eight sites in Iraq on behalf of the British Museum, including Nimrud and Balawat, noted that, while humanitarian concerns are uppermost at the moment, there are worries about the threat to Iraq’s important archaeological heritage posed by armed conflict.

The eminent Cambridge archaeologist, Professor Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn, director of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research in Cambridge, said that some of the world’s most important archaeological sites are in Iraq.

He is demanding to know whether a coalition of American collectors and curators is seeking to acquire Iraqi antiquities after the fall of President Saddam Hussein.

A group of wealthy and influential arts figures calling themselves the American Council for Cultural Policy (ACCP) is arguing that the legitimate dispersal of cultural material is one of the best ways to protect it. The coalition’s members wield such influence that they secured a high-level meeting in January with US State and Defence Department officials, to the alarm of archaeologists.

Lord Renfrew — whose book Figuring It Out: The Parallel Visions of Artists and Archaeologists is published this week — said: “What on earth are they doing seeking to meet with the US Defence Department at this sensitive time?

“These collectors and curators want to be free to buy antiquities that come from archaeological sites and relax the export laws. They want the antiquities legislation of Iraq to be relaxed in the aftermath of war. If there’s an intervention, there’s a real risk of serious looting.”

The coalition, whose prominent members include Shelby White, a leading antiquities collector, as well as museum directors and curators, has emphasised that its sole aim is to save the country’s wealth of archaeological sites.

The series of free lectures on the British Museum’s Mesopotamian antiquities collection runs from March 27 until April 3.