The museum, close to the shrine of the martyred 7th century Imam, houses a collection of artifacts related to his life and times donated to the keepers of the shrine over the years by foreign dignitaries and visiting pilgrims.
Imam Hussein, a key figure in Shiite Islam, was the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and for Shia Muslims around the world, the third Imam of Islam.
Hussein and his brother Hasan were particularly loved by Muhammad (PBUH) who famously described them as "masters of the youth of Paradise" and is reported to have said "anyone who loves them has loved me".
Hussein is recognized by both Shiite and Sunnite Muslims as "the martyr of the martyrs" for fighting tyranny and refusing to pledge allegiance to the Umayyad caliph Yazid. He was eventually killed and beheaded at the Battle of Karbala in 680AD.
Husein's grave soon became the most visited place for Shias and a shrine was later built over his grave. In 850AH the Abbasid caliph, al-Mutawakkil, destroyed his shrine in order to stop Shia pilgrimages but the pilgrimages continued, and the site remains to this day a holy site of pilgrimage for Shia Muslims.
This year, on the anniversary of Imam Hussein's martyrdom, more than 12 million Shia pilgrims made their way to the shrine on day of mourning that is marked by a public holiday across the Iraqi provinces.
"The management of the Husseini shrine seek to make the Museum of Imam Hussein one the major international museums," the director of the museum Alaa Diaa al-Din said.
The museum's collection contains precious antique ceramics, seals, doors, carpets, swords, jewelry, clothing and a host of icons all donated to the shrine over the years.
Diaa al-Din said that it hoped that the opening of the museum will coincide with the Arab Summit, scheduled to take place in Baghdad at the end of this month.
The museum director explained that the idea of constructing a museum to house the shrine's collection of artifacts came about in 2008.
The work was carried out in three stages he said:
"During the first stage, the secret closets and underground vaults at the shrine were opened up," he said. "We gathered the treasures and documented them on a computer data-base similar to that of the Iraqi Museum (in Baghdad)".
Although Iraq lacks the scientific apparatus for accurately dating its treasures, Diaa al-Din said that his team of researchers, with the help of 30 university professors from across the country, were able to document the artifacts using historical texts and by comparing them in terms of design and decoration to artifacts in international collections.
In the second "maintenance" phase, Diaa al-Din explained that experts from the Iraqi Museum spent three months working alongside the Imam Hussein (A.S) Museum staff, training them in the art of artifact conservation.
"The third phase of the project was designing the layout of the museum hall according to international standards", he said.
Whilst maintaining the importance of the thousand-year-old collection contained within the museum halls, Diaa al-Din said that there are still many more artifacts that remain at large.
The Imam Hussein (A.S) shrine has been looted three times since its construction, he said. First by the Ottomans, then by the al-Saud tribe (of present day Saudi Arabia) and more recently by Saddam Hussein's forces during the popular uprising of 1969.
These stolen artifacts, all bearing a distinct seal and the words "for Imam Hussein" written on them, he said, can still be found in major collections around the world.
We communicated through the media and the Iraqi museum for the return of the stolen treasures from the shrine of Imam Hussein (A.S) , and some of them were returned," he said, "but many items are still missing from the collection."
"We call on everyone in the name of humanity to help return them."
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