Al-Shaheed Monument

The Al-Shaheed Monument ( _ar. نُصب الشهيد), also known as the Martyr's Memorial, is a monument in the Iraqi capital Baghdad dedicated to the Iraqi soldiers who died in the Iran-Iraq war. The Monument was opened in 1983, and was designed by Ismail Fattah Al-Turk. During the 1970s and 1980s, Saddam Hussein's government spent part of its oil revenue on new monuments and the beautification of Baghdad, which included the Al-Shaheed Monument Cite web|title=GlobalSecurity.org|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/baghdad-monuments.htm] .

Design

The monument consists of a circular platform 190 meters in diameter in the center of an artificial lake. On the platform sits an enormous 40 meter tallCite web|title=Archnet.org|url=http://archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.tcl?site_id=580] split turquoise dome, which resembles the domes of Iranian mosques. The two halves of the split dome are offset, with an eternal flame in the middle. The shells are constructed of a galvanized steel frame with glazed turquoise ceramic tile cladding which was pre-cast in carbon fiber reinforced concrete. The rest of the site consists of parks, a playground, parking lots, walkways, bridges, and the lake.

A museum, library, cafeteria, lecture hall and exhibition gallery are located in two levels underneath the domes.

The monument is located on the East side of the Tigris river, near the Army Canal which separates Sadr city from the rest of Baghdad. The current fate of the monument is unknown due to the violence and uncertainty caused by the ongoing war in Iraq, but there are no plans to destroy it like the Hands of Victory arch.

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