Amongst the few but massive monuments built by or in memory of Saddam Hussein’s regime, the Al-Shaheed Monument is dedicated to all the soldiers that lost their lives during the war.
It is an impressive sight, the two turquoise halves that make a dome. With 190 meters in diameter and 40 meter height, the domes are designed to resemble Abbasid era structures.
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq. It is the largest city in Iraq and, after Cairo in Egypt, the second largest city in the Arab World with a population between 7 and 7.5 million. Baghdad was found in the 8th century and was the center of the Arab and Muslim world during the Abbasid Caliphate.
Al Faw palace in Baghdad ©Flickr mr_kobayashi
Main sights include the National Museum of Iraq and the Hands of Victory, a pair of enormous crossed swords cast from weapons of soldiers who died in the Iran–Iraq War under Saddam’s command. The Al Kadhimain Shrine is a very important Shi’ite religious sites in Iraq, built in 1515.