Baghdad was once the centre of the world. Founded in 762 CE by the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur as a perfectly circular walled city on the banks of the Tigris, it grew within a century into the largest city on earth — a cosmopolitan capital of perhaps a million people where Arab, Persian, Greek, Indian and Chinese scholarship converged in what became known as the Islamic Golden Age. The name alone used to evoke the world of the Arabian Nights: harems, philosophers, astronomers, merchants, and the legendary wealth of the caliphs.
The Mongol invasion of 1258 destroyed the city and killed the last Abbasid caliph. Baghdad recovered, gradually, but never regained its medieval supremacy. In the 20th century it became the capital of modern Iraq, and the Gulf War of 1991 and the US-led invasion of 2003 brought new rounds of destruction and instability. Visiting today requires careful preparation and attention to current security conditions — but the city rewards those who make it.
The Iraq Museum is one of the great collections of ancient world history, covering seven thousand years of Mesopotamian civilisation and recently reopened after being looted during the 2003 invasion. Al-Mutanabbi Street, Baghdad's famous book market street, has survived everything that has been thrown at it and is still lined with booksellers. Khan Murjan, a 14th-century caravanserai, has one of the most extraordinary brick interiors in the Islamic world. The Abbasid Palace is among the very few medieval structures to survive the Mongol destruction of 1258. The golden domes of Al-Kadhimiya Mosque draw millions of pilgrims each year. And the Martyr's Monument, a split turquoise dome rising from an artificial lake, is one of the finest pieces of 20th-century architecture in the Arab world.
The Tigris riverfront is where Baghdadis go to relax, and on a calm Thursday evening it offers a glimpse of the city as its residents actually experience it — families, tea, fish kebabs, and the river that has run through the heart of this place for thirteen centuries.