The innumerable valuable artifacts and treasures were burried between the layers of citites, ruins and hills came to light by foreign scientific missions who intended to discover the remains of the great Iraqi heritage.

The acquisition of these relics inspired the need to establish a museum for the antiquities in 1923 AD and caused the Iraqi goverment at that time to pass it's first antiquities law in 1924 AD, followed by a new law in 1936. This last law ensured the Iraqi goverment's right to take a share of the antiquities uncovered and resulted in the collection of large numbers of the relics.

The first exhibition of Iraqi antiquities took place in Baghdad was on 1923 AD in a room within Al-Qushla building (Al-Sarai Al-Qadeem). Then a new facility was allocated for exhibition on Al-Maamoon street, called the Iraq Museum. When this museum became filled to capacity a new, larger museum was constructed in Western Baghdad according to modern standards.