The New Kurdish Museum in Northern Iraq

Iraqi Kurdistan is getting a new art museum dedicated to Kurdish art, history, and culture.

Architect Daniel Libeskind confirmed that his Studio Libeskind has been commissioned to construct the first major Kurdish arts center, which will be erected in the capital city of Erbil, located in northern Iraq. Libeskind presented the plans at the Bloomberg Businessweek Design conference in San Francisco yesterday.

The museum’s four interlocking buildings represent the regions of Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq, across which the ethnic Kurdish people are dispersed. The interior will include exhibition spaces, a lecture theater, educational facilities, and an open-air courtyard for community gatherings.