A journey to Cambridge (Hanan Abdul Hamza, Iraq, ITP 2025)

Written by Hanan Abdul Hamza, Manager, Cuneiform Department, Iraq Museum (Iraq, ITP 2025)

I am so excited to have had the opportunity to participate in the ITP programme, which I have been waiting for for a long time, and it has finally happened. It has been a wonderful opportunity for me to meet and get to know this year’s ITP participants from all over the world. We have become like a family in such a short time. It has been my dream to visit the British Museum, and now I am here in its halls. What a feeling!

July 16th was a wonderful day as I had the experience of traveling to Cambridge with my colleagues Shiva, Safoura and Leila. We spent the 50-minute train journey taking in the breathtaking scenery on the way there. It’s an amazing city.

The first thing we did was visit the Fitzwilliam Museum, which is a museum affiliated with Cambridge University and was founded in 1816. It is a huge listed historic building with stunning architecture that houses more than half a million artifacts, classical manuscripts and paintings that were extremely beautiful. We wandered around its halls and took some photos next to the paintings and pieces on display.

After that, we visited Cambridge University Library. The library staff welcomed us with great hospitality and generously provided us with a detailed explanation of the exhibits, which included original copies of Persian and Arabic books, as well as copies of the Quran. I was amazed by the beauty and intricacy of the design and decoration of these books, as some of them were decorated in shiny gold.

After that, we visited Milstein Foundation Exhibition Centre to look at the Curious Cures exhibition, which displayed medieval manuscripts dealing with medical prescriptions and anatomy. It was wonderful.

We then toured the streets of the old city and admired the magnificent Gothic architecture at King’s College Chapel, and the Corpus Clock.  After lunch, we went to Scudamore’s boatyard and headed out for a 45-minute boat trip on a punt. It was a wonderful sightseeing experience, as we enjoyed the breathtaking views and saw seven colleges along the riverbanks, and another perspective of King’s College Chapel. The most beautiful part of the trip was seeing the Canadian geese that accompanied us on the way there and back.

Afterwards, enjoyed had English afternoon tea with cream and jam. It was a wonderful trip.