Al Zaqura Building, Government palace in Green Zone, Baghdad, Iraq.
Al Zaqura Building is a government palace in the Green Zone of Baghdad and serves today as the seat of the Iraqi prime minister. The massive concrete walls rise in offset layers and recall the stepped construction of earlier ziggurats in the river region.
The complex was completed in 1975 on the initiative of President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and followed a design by Saeed Ali Madhlum and CP Kukreja Associates. After damage during the war in 2003 the structure was restored with international participation and kept in its original form.
The name refers to the stepped temple towers of ancient Mesopotamia and links old building forms to later design principles. The interior rooms show elements of Islamic design while the outer shell follows the plain concrete approach of the 1970s.
The building lies within the heavily secured zone in Baghdad and is not freely open to the public. Its location by the Tigris follows the old power centers of the city.
The similarity to a ziggurat shows mostly in the recessed floors that recall the temples of Ur and Uruk. Despite heavy damage the restoration kept the original silhouette and left the rough concrete relief of the facade unchanged.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
