50 Fun Facts About Baghdad

On which river does Baghdad stand?

The river splits the city into Rusafa on the east bank and Karkh on the west.

Which caliph founded Baghdad in 762 AD?

He was the second caliph of his dynasty and named his new city Madinat as-Salam, the City of Peace.

Which caliphate made Baghdad its capital in the 8th century?

The Abbasids had overthrown the Umayyads, whose capital was Damascus.

What did the founding caliph officially name his new capital?

By the 11th century Baghdad had become almost the exclusive name for the metropolis.

What is the most favoured meaning of the pre-Islamic name Baghdad?

The name Mithridates, Given by Mithra, uses the same Persian element.

What shape was the original core city of 762?

The design echoed the Sasanian city of Gur rather than the grid plans of Greece and Rome.

Under which zodiac sign did the astrologers Naubakht and Mashallah time the founding?

Naubakht was a Zoroastrian and Mashallah a Jew from Khorasan.

Roughly how many workers built Baghdad between 764 and 768?

The bricks were 18 inches square and their production was supervised by the jurist Abu Hanifa.

Which four destinations gave their names to the Round City's gates?

The caliph's Golden Gate Palace at the centre had a 48-metre green dome.

Which great library and academy made Baghdad the 'Center of Learning'?

Scholars there included the mathematician al-Khwarizmi and the philosopher al-Kindi.

Which caliph turned Baghdad's great library into a public academy in the 9th century?

Al-Ma'mun championed the rationalist Mu'tazili theology and imprisoned Ahmad ibn Hanbal for opposing it.

Which collection of tales is largely set in medieval Baghdad?

Professional storytellers called al-Qaskhun entertained crowds in the streets.

Which caliph, a character in the Arabian Nights, exchanged gifts with Charlemagne?

He was the fifth Abbasid caliph, ruling from 786 to 809.

Which Chinese city did Baghdad rival as the world's largest in its golden age?

By the 930s it was tied with Córdoba as the largest city on Earth.

To which city did the caliphs twice move their capital from Baghdad in the 9th century?

Domination by the Buyids and then the Seljuks followed in the 10th and 11th centuries.

Which Seljuk leader took over Baghdad in 1055?

The Seljuks ruled as sultans in the name of the Abbasid caliphs, whom they claimed to protect.

Which Mongol prince captured Baghdad in February 1258?

The sack ended the Abbasid Caliphate and, many argue, the Islamic Golden Age.

Which caliph was killed when the Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1258?

He was executed with his whole family and court on 20 February, after Hulegu had moved camp to escape the stench.

What did Timur order each of his soldiers to bring back after taking Baghdad in 1401?

Timur had marched from Shiraz to Baghdad in only eight days in 1393.

Which Ottoman sultan recaptured Baghdad from the Safavids in 1638?

The city had first fallen to the Ottomans in 1534 and became the capital of Ottoman Iraq.

Which Persian dynasty took Baghdad in 1509 under Shah Ismail I?

Ottoman-Safavid enmity kept the city changing hands through the 17th century.

Which Ottoman governor began Baghdad's Tanzimat-era reforms in 1869?

The city's municipality had been established a year earlier, with Ibrahim al-Daftari as first mayor.

Roughly what share of Baghdad's population was Jewish by 1900?

The 1941 Farhud pogrom killed more than 180 Jews and most of the community left by the early 1950s.

Which city was the western terminus of the railway begun towards Baghdad in 1903?

The first train from Istanbul did not reach Baghdad until 1940.

In which year did the British capture Baghdad from the Ottomans?

Baghdad became the capital of the British-protected monarchy in 1921 and of an independent Iraq in 1932.

Which 1955 Cold War alliance was named after the city where it was signed?

It was later renamed CENTO after Iraq withdrew following the 1958 revolution.

Whose 1957 plan for Baghdad included a cultural island and a 300-foot caliph statue?

Le Corbusier's Baghdad gymnasium is another modernist relic of the same era.

Where in Baghdad was Saddam Hussein's statue toppled in April 2003?

A green abstract sculpture by Bassem Hamad al-Dawiri was commissioned to replace it.

What is the official name of Baghdad's Victory Arch, the pair of crossed blades?

They opened in August 1989 to mark the Iran-Iraq War.

Which colour is the 40-metre split dome of Baghdad's Al-Shaheed Monument?

Sculptor Ismail Fatah al-Turk designed it to honour the dead of the Iran-Iraq War; it opened in 1983.

Which fortified area of Karkh houses Iraq's government and foreign embassies?

Its largest building was Saddam Hussein's Republican Palace.

After which 10th-century poet is Baghdad's famous street of bookshops named?

Abu Nuwas has a riverside street named after him along the Tigris.

Which two Shia Imams are entombed at the golden-domed Kadhimiya Mosque?

Millions of pilgrims visit it, along with the Abu Hanifa Mosque and the shrine of Abdul-Qadir Gilani.

Which Iraqi-born architect designed a Central Bank of Iraq headquarters for Baghdad?

She was born in Baghdad and became the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize.

Which name did the 204-metre Baghdad TV mast carry before 2003?

It opened in 1994 with a revolving restaurant, replacing a tower destroyed in the Gulf War.

What is the clay pot with a copper tube and iron rod, found in Iraq in 1936, called?

Wilhelm König of the Iraq Museum suggested it was a galvanic cell used for electroplating.

Which former Sasanian capital, 30 km southeast, was eclipsed by Baghdad?

Ctesiphon had itself replaced Seleucia, which succeeded Babylon.

Which madrasa, founded in 1227, gave its name to a modern Baghdad university?

Its library was the last great one built by the caliphs; the university took the name in 1963.

Which Baghdad institution's antiquities collection was looted during the 2003 invasion?

Its treasures include finds from Uruk dating to 3500-3000 BCE.

Which four football clubs are named as Baghdad's biggest?

Their names translate as Police, Air Force, and Students, reflecting their origins.

What is the average summer maximum temperature in Baghdad?

Even summer nights seldom drop below 24 °C in this hot desert climate.

Roughly what share of Iraq's population lives in Baghdad?

The city generates around 40 percent of Iraq's economy.

Which distinction did Baghdad Zoo once hold?

Al-Zawraa Park, the city's main urban park, forms part of the zoo grounds.

Which Baghdad landmark, opened in 1982, was formerly named Saddam International?

Commercial flights resumed in August 2000 from Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Which army officer led the July 1958 coup in Baghdad that toppled the Kingdom of Iraq?

King Faisal II, the former regent Abd al-Ilah and ex-prime minister Nuri al-Said were all killed; New Baghdad and Sadr City were developed under Qasim.

What name is given to the June 1941 pogrom in which over 180 Baghdad Jews were killed?

It followed the collapse of Rashid Ali al-Gaylani's pro-Axis 'Golden Square' coup government during a power vacuum.

Which king founded the National Museum of Iraq and the University of Baghdad?

He is credited with laying the foundation of the modern Iraqi state after the British Mandate.

Pilgrims of which Indian religion regularly visited Baghdad's Baba Nanak Shrine before 2003?

A small community of Sikhs, mostly Indians, still lives in the city alongside a handful of Baháʼís.

What is Baghdad's record high temperature?

That is about 125 °F, in a city whose average summer maximum already sits around 44 °C.

How many main lines does the long-proposed Baghdad Metro plan include?

First proposed in the 1970s, the plan covers more than 148 km of track and 64 stations but was stalled by wars and sanctions.