Saddam Hussein's former palace transformed into Iraq's principal museum

"I used to look at it and think of Ozymandias," said Lieutenant General Barney White-Spunner, recalling the sight of Saddam Hussein's riverside palace in Basra. "It was designed to overpower, for the greater glory of the regime." It had, he said, ghastly gauche decoration and "vulgar, awful imitation rococo interiors".

But now Saddam's vainglorious stronghold is to be turned over to a different use. Work is nearing completion on transforming it into the new Basra Museum, relocated from a wrecked and squatted historic building in the centre of the city with the help of British army engineers.

John Curtis, a curator at the British Museum who has advised on the project, said: "It will be the principal museum in southern Iraq and we hope people will look to it as the model museum in the region." If all goes to plan it should open late next year.

When it comes to the protection of Iraq's cultural heritage, the history of the US-led coalition's invasion is not a happy one. Baghdad Museum was looted in 2003 under the eyes of American troops and archaeological sites have been robbed. Over the past decade, only 4,310 objects out of 16,000 stolen from the Baghdad Museum have been recovered.

When White-Spunner was preparing to take command of the allied forces in southeastern Iraq, he began to consider the looting's catastrophic effect on the coalition's reputation. His primary task was re-establishing stability, he said, but it was also important to start thinking about the legacy of the British invasion.

In 2007 the general, who has since left the British army, contacted Curtis and Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum. On their advice, he formulated a plan to help assess damage to archaeological and re-establish the museum.