Sa‘id al-Daywaji (1912‒2000), the first curator of the Mosul Cultural Museum
The Mosul Cultural Museum was entrusted to Sa‘id al-Daywaji, who became its first curator. He graduated in 1931 from the Institute of Higher Education in Baghdad, and in 1951 was appointed to the General Directorate of Antiquities where he was responsible for founding the Mosul Archaeological Museum. Until his retirement in 1968, he studied and documented the Arab-Islamic buildings and monuments of the city. He also wrote many overviews on the history and heritage of Mosul in the medieval period.
In 1966, he was elected member of the Iraqi Scientific Academy in Baghdad, and in 1973 he participated in the foundation of the Arab Heritage Society in Mosul and was elected its vice-president. In 1987, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Union of Arab Historians and became honorary president of the Society of Historians and Archaeologists of Mosul in 1992.
Curators of the Mosul Cultural Museum
From its inception in 1952 to the present day, eight curators have successively headed the Mosul Cultural Museum:
- Sa‘id al-Daywaji
- Hazim Abdul Hamid
- Salim al-Jalili
- Manhal Jabr
- Bernadette Hanna Matti
- Hikmat Bashir Majid al-Aswad
- Rayya Mohsen al-Hajj Younos
- Zaid Ghazi Saadalah al-Obeidi
- Ahmed Amer Khattab Al Mukhtar
