Mohammed G. Hikmat | Iraqi sculptor, 82

Mohammed Ghani Hikmat, 82, the Iraqi sculptor who created many of Baghdad's most famous landmarks and who led the effort to recover works of art looted from the National Museum of Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, died Sept. 12 in Amman, Jordan, where he had gone for medical treatment. The cause was kidney failure, his son, Yasser Mohammed, said.

In the 1960s and '70s, Mr. Hikmat created many sculptures that were inspired by the Middle Eastern fables 1,001 Nights and were placed in bustling parts of the city.

Mr. Hikmat fled Iraq a month before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and returned shortly after the Hussein regime fell. He found that looters had stolen about 150 of his works from the National Museum and that his studio and many of his sculptures there had been damaged.

After the U.S. occupation, Mr. Hikmat left Iraq for seven years but remained in the Middle East and formed a committee to buy back many of Iraq's artworks stolen in the looting. The program has recovered about 100 pieces. He returned to live in Baghdad in the last year.

Mr. Hikmat also had a role in one of Baghdad's most famous sculptures, the crossed-sword arches that became a symbol of the Hussein dictatorship. Hussein had ordered them built as a symbol of Iraq's might during its war with Iran.

After Khalid al-Rahal, who designed the arches, died in 1987, Mr. Hikmat completed them.

"It was an official order from the presidential office to complete it because Khalid al-Rahal was his friend," Mohammed said.

The government began dismantling the swords in 2007 but stopped after protests. It began restoring the arches this year, saying they were part of the country's history. - N.Y. Times News Service