Lamia Al-Gailani Werr (, 8 March 1938 – 18 January 2019) was an Iraqi

Assyriologist Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , '' -logia'') is the archaeological, anthropological, and linguistic study of Assyria and the rest of ancient Mesopotamia (a region that encompassed what is now modern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southea ...

specialising in

ancient Mesopotamia The history of Mesopotamia ranges from the earliest human occupation in the Paleolithic period up to Late antiquity. This history is pieced together from evidence retrieved from archaeological excavations and, after the introduction of writing i ...

n antiquities. Al-Gailani was born in Baghdad and completed her education in Iraq and the United Kingdom. Her doctoral study of Old Babylonian

cylinder seal A cylinder seal is a small round cylinder, typically about one inch (2 to 3 cm) in length, engraved with written characters or figurative scenes or both, used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally ...

s was considered a landmark in the field. Based in London, in her later career she was known for maintaining links between British and Iraqi archaeology under the Saddam Hussein regime, and her efforts to preserve cultural heritage in the aftermath of the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. She was closely involved in the reconstruction of the

National Museum of Iraq The Iraq Museum ( ar, المتحف العراقي) is the national museum of Iraq, located in Baghdad. It is sometimes informally called the National Museum of Iraq, a recent phenomenon influenced by other nations' naming of their national museum ...

, where she had worked as a curator in the 1960s, and the founding of the Basrah Museum. She was awarded the fifth Gertrude Bell Memorial Gold Medal by the

British Institute for the Study of Iraq The British Institute for the Study of Iraq (BISI) (formerly the British School of Archaeology in Iraq) is the only body in Britain devoted to research into the ancient civilizations and languages of Mesopotamia. It was founded in 1932 and its aim ...

in 2009.

Education and career

Al-Gailani was born in Baghdad on 8 March 1938. She studied at the

University of Baghdad The University of Baghdad (UOB) ( ar, جامعة بغداد ''Jāmi'at Baghdād'') is the largest university in Iraq, tenth largest in the Arab world, and the largest university in the Arab world outside Egypt. Nomenclature Both University ...

for year, before completing her bachelor's degree at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. In 1961, she began working as a curator of the

, the institution that would be the focus of much of her later career. She returned to Britain in the 1970s, to complete a master's degree at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, and then a PhD at the Institute of Archaeology in London. Her PhD thesis, supervised by

Barbara Parker-Mallowan Barbara, Lady Mallowan, (born Barbara Hastings Parker; 14 July 1908 – 21 November 1993) was an English archaeologist, Assyriologist, and epigraphist who specialised in cylinder seals. Life and work Barbara Parker was born on 14 July 1908 t ...

, was a study of

Old Babylonian Old Babylonian may refer to: *the period of the First Babylonian dynasty (20th to 16th centuries BC) *the historical stage of the Akkadian language Akkadian (, Akkadian: )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Camb ...

s at the Iraq Museum. Published after much delay in 1988,

Dominique Collon Dominique Petronella Margaret Collon, (born 18 May 1940) is a Belgian-born academic, author, archaeologist and former curator at the British Museum in London who has worked and travelled extensively in the Near East in Syria, Turkey and Iraq. She ...

, curator of Western Asiatic Antiquities at the British Museum, described the work as a "succinct and informative discussion" that should "serve as a model for all future studies." After obtaining her PhD in 1977, Al-Gailani remained in London as an honorary research associate at the UCL Institute of Archaeology and a research associate at the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...

(SOAS). She returned to Iraq frequently, working to maintain contact between Iraqi archaeologists and the wider academic world under the Saddam Hussein regime. In 1999, she and Salim al-Alusi co-authored ''The First Arabs'', a popular account in Arabic of the archaeology of early Arab culture in Mesopotamia. From 2003, her work focused on the preservation of antiquities in Iraq. She helped rebuild the Iraq Museum after it was looted and damaged in the 2003 American-led invasion and was a frequent commentator on the difficulties faced by museums and heritage protection in postwar Iraq. She was a consultant to the Iraqi Ministry of Culture and was closely involved in the reopening of the Iraq Museum in 2015 and the founding of the Basrah Museum in 2016. At the time of her death in 2019, Al-Gailani held a research fellowship at the

Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York, where she was writing a book on the history of the Iraq Museum.

Personal life

A member of a prominent Iraqi family, Al-Gailani's lineage included

Abdul Qadir Gilani ʿAbdul Qādir Gīlānī, ( ar, عبدالقادر الجيلاني, ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī; fa, ) known by admirers as Muḥyī l-Dīn Abū Muḥammad b. Abū Sāliḥ ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī al-Baḡdādī al-Ḥasanī al-Ḥusayn ...

, the founder of the Qadiri Sufi order, and

Abd Al-Rahman Al-Gillani Qutb-ul Aqtaab Naqib Al Ashraaf Syed Abd ar-Rahman al-Qadri al Gillani ( ar, عبد الرحمن الكيلاني النقيب; 11 January 1841 – 13 June 1927) was the first prime minister of Iraq, and its head of state. Al Gillani was chosen i ...

, the first

prime minister of Iraq The prime minister of Iraq is the head of government of Iraq. On 27 October 2022, Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani became the incumbent prime minister. History The prime minister was originally an appointed office, subsidiary to the head of state, a ...

. Her parents were Ahmad Jamal Al-Din Al-Gailani and Madiha Asif Mahmud Arif-Agha. Al-Gailani married twice. Her first husband, Abd al-Rahman Al-Gailani, was an Iraqi historian of

Islamic architecture Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Islamic world encompasses a wide geographic ar ...

. Her second husband was George Werr, a Jordanian businessman who died in 2003. She had three daughters: Noorah Al-Gailani, Azza Al-Gailani and Hesn Werr. , Noorah Al-Gailani was the Curator of Islamic Civilisations at the

Glasgow Museums Glasgow Museums is the group of museums and galleries owned by the City of Glasgow, Scotland. They hold about 1.6 million objects including over 60,000 art works, over 200,000 items in the human history collections, over 21,000 items relating to ...

Death and legacy

Al-Gailani died in

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...

, Jordan of a stroke on 18 January 2019. She was interred in the

Mausoleum of Abdul-Qadir Gilani fa, مزار غوث, , native_name_lang = ara / fa , image = الحضرة القادرية منظر عام.jpg , image_upright = 1.4 , alt = , caption = The mausoleum complex ...

(her ancestor) in Baghdad, following a funeral procession from the Iraq Museum."The Economist Magazine", Obituary, Print Edition, page 82, 9-15 February 2019 She was the only lifetime honorary member of the

and was awarded its Gertrude Bell Memorial Gold Medal in 2009.

References

External links

"The First Arabs in the Fertile Crescent" by Dr. Lamia al-Gailani Werr

Lamia Al Gailani Werr: Four Wars and the Museums in Iraq

When words fail: Iraq's lost heritage and efforts to save it

Iraqi archaeologist discusses ISIL's destruction of antiquities
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gailani Werr, Lamia 1938 births 2019 deaths People from Baghdad Iraqi archaeologists Iraqi women archaeologists Archaeologists of the Near East University of Baghdad alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the UCL Institute of Archaeology Academics of the UCL Institute of Archaeology Academics of SOAS University of London Assyriologists Iraqi Assyriologists