Baghdad Convention Center, Parliament building in Baghdad, Iraq

The Baghdad Convention Center is a parliament building in Iraq's capital housing meeting spaces and administrative rooms for governmental use. The complex features a central auditorium, multiple conference halls, and committee rooms designed to accommodate various state functions.

An international architectural competition in spring 1978 chose Finnish architect Heikki Siren, with Kaija Siren, to design the palace for the Non-Aligned Movement summit planned for Baghdad in 1982. Work by the Finnish IRCO-Group stopped in autumn 1980 because of the Iran-Iraq war and the building opened in 1982. It received the Finnish Concrete Structure of the Year award in 1984 and was hit by bombs in the 1991 Gulf War but survived.

The white marble of the facade is combined with blue glazed tiles, a reference to Babylonian building traditions. Inside, the Iraqi artist Ismail Fattah al-Turki installed a white marble sculpture, "Tigris and Euphrates", also called the Iraqi Palm: a split palm trunk with flowing parallel lines for the two rivers and ribbed fronds for their waters. It stands in the central halls.

Access to the building is through a formal entrance gateway at the main facade that is easy to locate from the street. It is advisable to arrange authorization in advance, as entry to the interior spaces is restricted to official visitors.

The main hall holds 123 delegations of five members each plus 1,100 participants, with public seating for 2,100. Inside stands Isma'il Fattah al-Turk's sculpture of the Iraqi palm, split into two parallel trunks for the Tigris and Euphrates, with palm fronds rippling as river water. The architect Heikki Siren, asked about the 1991 bombing hits, replied that the building measures 260,000 cubic metres, so a couple of bombs fit inside.