PARIS (AP): The ancient city of Babylon, in what is now Iraq, gets a thorough exploration in a new show at the Louvre, with treasures borrowed from galleries around the world. All that's missing is the obvious: artifacts on loan from Baghdad's museum.

The Louvre says it had hoped the National Museum in Baghdad could contribute to the exhibit, "Babylon,'' which opens Friday, but the plan failed. Baghdad's security situation is still too perilous to allow for the transport of priceless treasures to the airport and the flight out.

"How can these objects travel -- who would insure them?'' asked curator Beatrice Andre-Salvini.

Nonetheless, the Louvre says the show is the first-ever comprehensive exhibit on Babylon, and the museum makes up for any shortcomings with treasures from its own collection and substantial loans from London and Berlin.

Babylon was one of the world's finest ancient cities, where Nebuchadnezzar II is believed to have built the Hanging Gardens, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The city, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad, began declining after it was conquered by the Persians under Cyrus the Great around 538 B.C.

The exhibit tries to separate the real Babylon -- a Mesopotamian city of extraordinary advancement and cultural riches -- from the myths about it, which stemmed in part from jealousy. Over time, the city became a symbol of vaulting ambition and wickedness, as witnessed in the Book of Genesis' portrayal of the Tower of Babel, where mankind dared to build a structure that would "reach unto heaven.''

Some treasures on display at the Louvre include the famous stele bearing Hammurabi's Code, one of mankind's earliest codes of law; tiny gold-plated statues; colorful brick panels of watchful lions; and a marble bust of Alexander the Great, who died in Babylon.

The Louvre exhibit runs until June 2, then goes to Berlin's Pergamon Museum from June 26 to Oct. 5. It will be at the British Museum from Nov. 13 to March 15, 2009.

The British Museum's exhibit, which will take a different form, will include video and photography documenting damage to Babylon's archaeological site by U.S. and Polish troops that were stationed nearby.

Experts say heavy vehicles were driven across the site, and pieces of ancient ruins ended up in sandbags.

Iraqi and world culture officials are still struggling to document the exact extent of the damage during the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and its aftermath.

Some of the artifacts stolen from Baghdad's museum by looters during the invasion have been recovered or returned. Between 3,000 to 7,000 pieces are still believed missing, said Laurent Levi-Strauss, chief of the section of museums and cultural objets at U.N. cultural body UNESCO. About 40 to 50 of those are considered to be of great historic importance, he said.

The museum remains closed to the general public; two galleries are open only to researchers and people with authorizations, Levi-Strauss said.

The Louvre's Andre-Salvini, who co-curated the Babylon exhibit with Sebastien Allard, said part of the problem with trying to borrow objects from Baghdad is that Iraqis are still traumatized about the looting, and there is ambivalence about whether treasures should leave for any reason.

Though the Louvre abandoned its effort, another group is persisting in the goal of bringing treasures from Baghdad to a wider public, despite delays and challenges with logistics and security.

A Denmark-based venture called United Exhibits Group plans to mount a five-year traveling international exhibit of the Nimrud gold, a treasure trove of jewelry discovered in the 1980s in Iraq in the tombs of Assyrian queens. The gold is currently in the central bank vault.

The group has signed a deal with the Iraqi government for the shows, which would raise US$10 million (euro6.5 million) for the country's Culture Ministry. The first exhibit was originally supposed to open in 2006, said United Exhibits Group's director, Teit Ritzau. Now the goal is 2009.

"It's called persistence,'' Ritzau said. "I think this ... would finally be a good story coming out of Iraq. And I think we could all use that.''

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