Mentioned in the sacred texts of all three Abrahamic faiths, the ancient Mesopotamian city of Babylon, in modern-day Iraq, is today undergoing a revival. Two World Monuments Fund (WMF) projects are nearing completion and much-needed cultural tourism is returning.
One project mitigates groundwater damage to the north retaining wall of the Ishtar Gate. The second is a restoration of the Temple of Ninmakh, dedicated to the Sumerian mother goddess. The team hopes there will be an official reopening for the temple this autumn, after which it will be available for gatherings such as weddings and concerts, as well as for the Babylon Festival, a celebration of international cultures that takes place every spring.
Largely funded by the US embassy in Baghdad, the restoration of the temple and the north retaining wall are part of the Future of Babylon Project, initiated 15 years ago, which aims to document, waterproof and stabilise structures throughout the 2,500-acre site. (The US embassy cancelled funding for a planned walkway spanning the site of the Ishtar Gate in July due to budget cuts.)
Visitor boom
The completion of these two projects coincides with a boom in tourism. Even in the midday heat, when tour guides refuse to emerge from their office, visitors from Romania, Russia and Iran enthusiastically explore attractions including the largely intact Lion of Babylon, the processional way and the museum next to a reconstructed Ishtar Gate.
The return of heritage tourism is one of Iraq’s few recent success stories. Even as sectarian tensions simmer and the electrical grid has yet to be restored 22 years after it was destroyed in the US invasion, Babylon is being reborn.
“We’ve had record numbers of visitors this year,” Raad Hamid Abdullah, Babylon’s antiquities and heritage inspector, tells The Art Newspaper. In 2024 Babylon hosted 43,530 Iraqi tourists and 5,370 foreign tourists, an increase from 36,957 Iraqi visitors and 4,109 foreigners in 2023, he says.
“Now even locals from the adjoining city of Babil are coming,” Abdullah says. “It has once more become a popular place for family gatherings and wedding parties,” he says, adding proudly, “Babylon is a symbol of Iraq.”
Babylon, the survivor
Around 80km south of Baghdad, comprising both the ruins of the ancient city as well as surrounding villages and agricultural areas, Babylon is a survivor. From its peak as the Neo-Babylonian capital under King Nebuchadnezzar II through to the Iraq War, when American and Polish troops ran roughshod over its ruins and a decade later, Islamic State (Isis) threatened its very existence, the ancient city has witnessed empires come and go.
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