Els Slots

3.00 The Netherlands - 15-Apr-25 -

I made it to Babylon in April 2025. There’s a lot to explain here – we’re missing a Solivagant-style PhD review, so I have tried my best to cover a few subjects to better be able to understand this WHS. I based myself on the official nomination documents, web searches, and the wonderful book “Mesopotamia, Ancient Art and Architecture”.

First, the Babylonian Empire itself. We had a connection here already. I’ve redone it to distinguish between the “Old” or “First” Babylonian Empire and the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Remains of the first (2nd millennium BCE) are hardly existent at the Babylon WHS. It focuses on the Neo-Babylonian empire, about 1,000 years younger and a relatively late stage in the history of Mesopotamia overall (it is Chapter 12 of 14 in the aforementioned, chronologically ordered book). The King of Babylon (most notably Nebuchadnezzar II) regained regional power and started a monumental building scheme that centered on his capital, Babylon and included the famous Ishtar Gate. This Babylon is also what is referred to multiple times in the Bible (often allegorically and not in a positive way).

Second, the site’s integrity and authenticity. It is estimated that only 18% of the archaeological remains of Babylon have been excavated. Still, you will see a lot of semi-complete buildings at the site. This is the result of the “Revival of Babylon Project” that ran in the 1980s. Saddam Hussain saw himself as a modern Nebuchadnezzar (this was during the Iran-Iraq war) and ordered a reconstruction of the old Babylon on top of the archaeological remains. He also built himself a palace overlooking the site. The reconstruction of key elements (such as the Southern Palace, the Ishtar Temple and Gate, and the Processional Way) was done using different materials and a height and design of the buildings with questionable accuracy. At inscription, this was “solved” by putting strictly modern elements such as landscape features and parking in an “above-ground buffer zone” (3D, so what’s underground is included, but what’s above isn’t). However, the not-so-accurate reconstructions of palaces and gates were kept inside the core zone. 

Third: Directly and Still in Danger. At inscription in 2019, the site was suffering from improper water drainage, rising groundwater, and importantly, a lack of maintenance, partly also due to the US Invasion of Iraq when the site was used as military barracks by the US and its allies. Since 2012, Iraq has been collaborating with the World Monuments Fund on the ‘Future of Babylon’ project to document, waterproof, and stabilize sites. There have been some success stories, such as the Lion of Babylon. But overall, very limited progress has been reported to the WHC in the SOC’s.

Onward to the Current Visitor Experience:

Since the site is within 1.5 hours' reach of Baghdad, it sees some day-trippers and tourists; there were around 20 others present when we visited. They will allocate you a guide. We got a female who only spoke Arabic, but she gave up fairly quickly since we had a local guide here already with us who knew the site well. 

The first impression is quite painful – it starts with an impersonation of the Ishtar Gate, but built in totally the wrong spot and with painted brick instead of glazed tiles. A small site museum lies behind, with few findings from the site itself (though it has one original glazed wall fragment of the Ishtar Gate, we saw a couple like those also at the National Museum in Baghdad and the rest is of course in Berlin). A mural shows the city as it once was or was thought to be when the Germans excavated it between 1899 and 1918. But since then, many doubts have been raised about the exact locations. You won’t see much of it above ground anyway. Also, the Euphrates River doesn’t flow along the site anymore.

You will then arrive at what is the reconstructed city grounds built on top of the archaeological site. Essentially, anything that lies above your feet is a Saddam-era remodel, easy to distinguish as it looks like clean Lego bricks. Only when you look closer do you sometimes see an original lower arch, often water damaged. There are a few original bricks written with a cuneiform inscription as well, some at eye level, so they must have been transplaced. The rebuilt monuments are essentially some huge, empty palaces with a processional road between them. In one of the corners we also visited a granary, the cool place where the Babylonians stored seeds for difficult times.

At the fringes of the terrain, it gets more interesting when you are there to look for original remains. Here, the results of more recent excavation and restoration work can be seen, although it is very slow going and they do not seem to be actively working on it now. There is the Ninmakh Temple, a rare mud-brick structure. The excavation focus now seems to lie on the original location of the Ishtar Gate. It lies well below ground level, but you can look into its Gateway. It shows serious water damage as well, but they did find the original outlines of the sculptures. The area also has a sundial and the (Hittite?) Lion of Babylon, which was once part of Nebuchadnezzar’s private museum, has been put on display there as well.

When we left the site by bus, we made a short stop at what nowadays is considered the original site of the Tower of Babylon. You’ll only see a hole in the ground where a small pond has developed.

Overall, the site doesn’t live up to its potential at all. The basic visitor experience is OK: there are clear footpaths, even some ‘bus stops’ to provide some shade, and it has explanations in English. You don’t have to walk too far, though, to see weeds and garbage. It must be said that they don’t sugarcoat the fact that the Saddam-era reconstructions weren’t accurate; both our guides were always directly pointing to the original elements. It’s a shame that so little progress has been made both on the excavation and the interpretation since the site also has huge tourism potential for Iraq.

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Wojciech Fedoruk

3.00 Poland - 21-Nov-21 -

Babylon is the ruin of the capital of the kingdom of Babylon, a country that had enjoyed its heyday since the time of Hammurabi (18th century B.C.E.). The golden age of the development of the city of Babylon fell during the time of King Nebuchadnezzar II, who ruled from 605 to 562 B.C.E. and significantly expanded Babylon, including building the magnificent Southern Palace.

After paying 25 thousand dinars I got a guide who showed me around the complex. The guide was incredibly nice, but his English was rather poor and he had a hard time explaining the historical or architectural complexities. Despite everything, he tried and told a lot, and what I heard was not necessarily pleasant to Polish ears. He worked here during the occupation of these areas by the allied forces (do you remember "Camp Babylon"?) and he cannot say anything good about this occupation. According to him, soldiers did not respect the monuments, treated them carelessly, and even deliberately devastated or took some artifacts - unfortunately, independent sources confirm what he said. On the other hand, he spoke positively about the Polish soldiers who gave him food and healed his seriously ill daughter at a time when it was extremely difficult to find a normal doctor. Apart from the purposefulness of the war itself, I do not understand why the main military camp of the occupiers had to be located next to a place of such great historical importance. Fortunately, Camp Babylon lasted "only" less than two years, and was relocated to less controversial sites in late 2004.

I have mixed feelings about the complex itself - despite being aware of the importance of Babylon as a historical site, I believe the reconstruction has gone too far here. The fact is that some of the relics were taken outside Iraq - for example, the original Ishtar Gate is on display at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Babylon was the apple of Saddam Hussein's eye, who, despite the historical integrity of the place, commissioned the reconstruction of most palaces - in general, you can see with the naked eye that the original walls account for about 5-10% of the total. Saddam put his initials on most of the bricks that were added. Fortunately, you can find places that were certainly original, including the relief-covered walls of the passage that ended at the Ishtar Gate. The reliefs depict Mušḫuššu - one of the main deities of Babylon - a creature with a serpent's head, a fish's body, two eagle legs, two more lion, a serpent's tail and a scorpion's venom spike.

Regarding Saddam, the dictator was so fond of Babylon that he placed one of his palaces on a nearby hill, clearly visible from the ancient city itself. The palace is abandoned today, but it can be visited, which I did not take advantage of, because that day I had a long way to go.

Babylon is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Iraq, one of the few that can be visited without the help of a tourist office. It is about an hour and a half from Baghdad, you can talk to taxi drivers who will take you there for $ 100. I paid $ 300 for an 800km trip to Babylon and Ur (WHS Ahwar of Southern Iraq), back to Baghdad on the same day.