A Tour in the north.

[ Samarra | Mosul | Nineveh | Nimrud | Khorsabad | Assur | Hatra 
| Duhok | Sulaimaniya | Arbil | Kirkuk ]


          As you travel north from Baghdad, on the way to Mosul (Nineveh Governorate),
you'll come across Salahuddin Governorate.There are several important cities and places in this area.
          The governorate was called after the great Muslim leader Salahuddin Al-Ayoubi (or Saladin, as he is known in the West), who liberated many parts of the Arab world in his time.
He was born in Tikrit (the center of the governorate) in A.D.1137, and later became King: he reigned over Egypt, Syria, and Palestine. He was victorious in the many wars he waged against invaders and intruders in the Arab homeland. His most renowned battle was Hitten, which he won against the Crusaders in Arab Palaestine in A.D. 1187.
The other major historical city in this governorate is Samarra.

Samarra.

About 74 years after the foundation of Baghdad, the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mu'tasim moved his capital north, to the newly built city of Samarra, in A.D. 836.
Its heyday however was under Caliph Al-Mutawakkil, (A.D.847-861). In 892 Caliph Al-Mu'tadhid shifted his capital back to Baghdad.
          Despite the short sojourn of the Abbasid Caliphate in Samaara, the city's artistic, literary and scientific splendours have remained a legend in Arab history.
          The remains of ancient Samarra are visible along the eastern bank of the Tigris, stretching south of the modern city for nearly 35 kms: the Great Mosque, the Spiral Minaret, Balkwara Palace, Ma'shouq Palace, etc. To the north of the Spiral Minaret are the Caliph's Residence, Tell Al-Ullaiq, Abu Duluf Mosque, Mutawakkiliya, Rassasi River - and so on until one arrives at the city of Dour.

The Great Mosque:
          A dominating, magnificent structure which was once the largest mosque in the Islamic world. It was built by Caliph Al-Mutawakkil in A.D. 852 from bricks and clay. It has a rectanular plan measuring 240x160 metres, with walls 10 metres high, 2,65 metres thick, supported by 44 towers. The courtyard was surrounded on all sides by an arcade, the greatest part of which was the one facing Mecca.
          The Mosque's minaret is the Malwiya ("the Spiral") which rises 27 metres away from the northern side of the Mosque, to a height of 52 metres. Some historians believe that it pre-dates the Mosque and that it was built by Caliph Al-Mu'tasim.

The Caliph's Residence:
          Built by Caliph Al-Mu'tasim to overlook the Tigris with a front 700 metres long. What remains of it today is a group of three ewans giving onto the river, the central one measuring 17.5 x 8 metres, with a height of 12 metres.These ewans were called "The Commoners Gate": the Caliph would sit there to hear the people's complaints and suggestions.

Abu Duluf Mosque:
          Samarra was penetrated by a very long axial street called Al-Adham (the Greatest), at the end of which, 22 kms away from the modern city, are the remnants of a large mosque still mostly extant.
It was built by Caliph Al-Mutawakkil to look like a smaller version of the Great Mosque, including the "malwiya" minaret. The pointed arches on the mosque's supports form the only difference in the look of the two mosques. Measuring 215.5 x 138 m, it has a beautiful courtyard. The minaret is 19 metres high.

Ma'shouq Palace:
          About 10 kms. to the north-west of Samarra you can see a brick built palace called Kaser Al-Ma'shouq (the Beloved's Palace), sone may still call it Kaser Al-Asheq (the Lovers Palace).
It lies on a high platform, with arches supporting the roof. A spiral path leads to the palace chambers, which are ornamented with clay arabesques. On the exterior are arches and pillars stuck to the walls. It was built by Caliph Al-Mu'tadhid just before he left the city for
Baghdad.

The Al-Askari Shrine:
          Where Imam Ali Al-Hadi and his son Hassan Al-Askari are entombed under a golden dome 68 metres in circumference, with two golden minarets 36 metres high.


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Nineveh Governorate.

          The largest governorate in the North. The Assyrians were the first great rulers to built their cities and strongholds in this part of Iraq, which they turned into a base for a vast empire.
In Umayyad and Abbasid times this region maintained its importance. the major city of the governorate is Mosul.

Mosul.

          The north's largest city and its major centre for trade, industry and communications.It has the largest university in Iraq. 400 kms. from Baghdad, it is linked with the capital by a first class road, by railway with a daily trip - from Mosul and Baghdad at 8.30 p.m.-, and regular flights (not available now because of the incredulouss and one-sided britsh/american no-fly zones resolution!).
Automobile and rail routes go through Mosul which coonect Iraq with Syria, Turkey and Europe, Mosul is also the starting-point of most of the roads that lead to Iraq's northern resorts.
          Mosul is called "the city of two springs", because autumn and spring are very much alike in it. It also named AL-Hadba, Al-Faihaa, and Al-Khadhra. The city has been continuously inhabited since Assyrian times.
Long before Islam, a number of Arab tribes had settled in it, and in later times it played a leading role in the Arab wars of conquest and became a city of great importance. It is rich in old historical places: castles, mosques, churches, monasteries, schools, most of which abound in architectural features and decorative works of significance.
Mosul today is a large prosperous city spread out on both sides of the river Tigris, with all the amenities of modern living and many parks, theatres, hotels, etc. Since 1969, a Spring Festival has been held every year in Mosul. Flower processions and folk dancing by thousands of people from every walk of life bring much gaiety to the place.

Historical Places in Mosul:

The Umayyad Mosque:
          The first ever in the city,it was built by Utba bin Farqad Al-Salami after he conquered Mosul in the reign of Caliph Omar bin Al-Khattab. The only part still extant is the minaret.

The Mujahidi Mosque:
          It dates back to the 12th. century A.D. and is distinguished for its beautiful dome and elaborately-wrought "mihrab".

The Great (Nurid) Mosque:
          Built by Nuriddin Zangi in A.D. 1172, it is famed for its remarkably bent minaret, 52 metres high, done in elaborate brickwork and called Al-Hadbaa ("the Humped").

The Mosque of the Prophet Jonah:
          An old mosque popularly believed to be the burial place of Jonah, as it is built on one of the mounds that rise over the ruins of Nineveh.

The Mosque of the Prophet Jerjis:
          Believed to be the burial place of Prophet Jerjis, it is difficult to date exactly. The last time it was "renovated" was in A.D. 1393.

Mashad Yahya Abdul Kassem:
          On the right bank of Tigris, known for its conical dome, decorative brick-work and calligraphy engraved in Mosul blue marbel. 13th. century.

Qara Serai (The Black Palace):
          The remnants of the 13th. century palace of Sultan Badruddin Lu'lu'.

The Church of Simon Peter:
          The oldest Chaldean church in Mosul believed to have been built in the 13th. century.

Chruch of Al-Tahira "The Immaculate":
          Near Bash Tapia, probably the remnants of the church of the Upper Monastery. Reconstructed last in 1743.

Church of St.Thomas:
          One of the oldest historical churches, its present structure suggests a 13th. century style.

The Roman Catholic Church:
          Built by the Dominican Fathers in Nineveh street in 1893.

St.Georg's Monastery:
          To the north of Mosul. Most probably built late in the 17th. century. Pilgrims from different parts of the north visit it annually in the spring, when many people also go out to its environs on holiday.

St.Elijah's Monastery:
          To the south of Mosul. Some distance away from the city there are other monasteries, notably:

The Monastery of St.Matti:
          At the top of Mount Maqloub, it dates back to the 4th. century A.D.

St.Behnam's Monastery:
          Also called Deir al-Jubb (the "Cistern Monastery"), in the Nineveh Plain near Nimrud. 12th. or 13th. century.




The Mosul Museum.

          The Museum is now in a new building, constructed after 1970, near Liberty Bridge. It has on diplay a large collection of finds that represent the successive civilizations of Iraq, from the Paleolithic Age up to later Arab Islamic times, with emphasis on archaeological finds discovered in Nineveh Governorate.

Forest Tourist House:
          A first-class spot in the northern corner of the Hadba model forest, on the left bank of the Tigris. Up-to-date equiment (1980S standard); food and drinks; eastern and western music. The Forest House also provides food to the tourist chalets nearby.

Waterfalls Tourist Chalets:
          They stand about 15 kms. away from the centre
of Mosul to the north-east, in beautiful country where the river Khosar comes down in waterfalls. The chalets are in two groups of ten houses each, separated by the waterfalls lake.

Forest Chalets:
          There are 35 of them in the middle of Hadba forest. 20 of them are designed for four persons each, the other 15 for 2 persons each.

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Nineveh.

          The city of Nineveh had a glorious history which made the Governorate assume its name. It was the thrid Assyrian capital after Assur and Nimrud, and its position in the centre of the original Assyrian land betwwen the rivers Tigris and Zab gave it an added administrative and religious importance. But it had been a cultural settlement since long before, right thought Sumerian and Babylonian periods. In fact the name of Nineveh is Sumerian origin.
          Nineveh was ruled by a number of great Assyrian Kings, such as Sargon II (721 -705 B.C.), before he moved to Dur Sharrukin (Khorsabad), succeeded by his son Sennacherib (705 - 681 B.C.), who abandoned his father's new capital and went back to Nineveh, and Esarhaddon (681 - 669) and Asur-bani-pal
(619 - 626), all of whom enlarged and built up the city and made it the centre of the civilized world of their time. Sennacherib brought water to it in an 80 kms. long canal from river Gomel, built a dam for water regulation, the remains of which are still visible somewhere near the eastern wall, and filled the city and its environs with gardens and orchards to which he brought some rare trees.
          On rising ground one can see the remains of the ancient walls, partly reconstructed, 12 kms. in circumference. There were 15 gates each called after an Assyrian god. The two most prominent mounds of ruins are Koyunjuk and Nabi Younis. On the latter hill rises now the Mosque of Nabi Younis (Jonah). King Esarhaddon had once built a palace on this very hill.

On Koyunjuk hill are the remains of the most important palaces of the period: Sennacherib's palace, with 71 chambers and halls and 27 entrances, embellished with winged bulls and lions. The walls had long series of bas-reliefs most of which were taken! to the British Museum, as they were dug up by quite unscientifically by European excavators in the middle of the last century, when Iraq was still under Ottoman domination. Assurbanipal left us some even more magnificent bas-reliefs and a library with thousands of clay tablets which he had collected from various cities and which preserved for us much of the lore and knowledge of ancient Mesopotamia.
          The General Establishment of Antiquities and Heritage has worked hard on certain parts of the site and reconstructed Maska and Shamash Gates, and some of the wall, and conserved Sennacherib's Palace. Nergal Gate, after reconstruction, is now used as a small museum where models of leading Assyrian towns are on display.

Nineveh Tourist Center:
To help visitors enjoy sightseeing at Nineveh, the Governorate has built a tourist center on one of the mounds near Adad Gate, and given it an Assyrian design. It provides food and drinks, together with a lovely view of the city of Mosul.

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Nimrud.

          The second capital of the Assyria had been a well-settled place for a thousand years before it was built as a centre of his kingdom by Shalmaneser I (1273-1244 B.C.). A famous king of Nimrud was Assur-nasir-pal II (883-859 B.C.), and so was his son Shalmanser III (858-824 B.C.) who constructed its ziggurat together with a temple next to it.
          Lying as it dose on the east bank of the Tigris, 37 kms. to the south-east of Mosul, the city has a four-side wall measuring in all 8 kms., and several buildings, in the south-western and south-eastern corner, raised on mud.brick platforms as much as forty feet high above river-level. Some of the buildings are: the temple of Ninurta, the north-western and the south-western palaces, Sargon's palace, and others - notably the ziggurat which looks rather like a conical hill, the remains of it rising to a height of 17 metres. It lies in the north-western corner of the city. It originally had a square base, with most probably a spiral ramp like that of Samarra's malwiya minaret, leading to its upper levels.

          Assunasirpal II's Palace, known as the north-western palace, has an area of 200 x 130 metres, and consists of administration, royal reception, and residential parts. The visitor at present enters the palace through a couple of doorways , between human-headed bulls or lions with the wings of a hawk. These huge sculptures were meant to be the guardians of the city. Some beautiful bas-relief slabs are still on the site, though most of them were taken away by foreign excavators. Most striking is the throne room, measuring 45,5 x 10,5 metres. It was here that a large number of exquisite ivory carvings were found, such as the so-called "Mona Lisa of Nimrud" and the piece showing a lioness mauling an Ethiopian, which is gilded and set with lapis-lazuli and agate.
          The south-western palace belonged to Esarhaddon. One of the buildings is Esida, the temple of Nabu, god of visdom and the arts and sciences, son of the Babylonian god Marduk. It was the work of Queen Samuramat (Semiramis), mother of Adad-Nirari III.

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Dur Sharrukin (Khorsabad).

          The fourth capital of Assyria, built by King Sargon II (712 - 705 B.C.) on a square with a mud-bick wall with 7 gates. The inside walls of king's palace were covered with magnificient marble (and some bronze) bas-reliefs, which were taken by the archaeologists to the Louvre in the last century.
The massive winged bulls which guarded the doorways were scattered over a number of museums in the world. Two of them are in the Iraqi Museum in Baghdad. The palace is in need of much excavation and reconstruction which, it is hoped, are in the offing. The General Establishment of Antiquities, however, has reconstructed the nearby Temple of the Sibitti - "the seven gods" (usually represented by seven small spheres on cylinder seals).
          Ironically, this city was not lived in for long: Sargon was killed only one year after he had moved into it, and his son Sennacherib went back to Nineveh and carried away with him many of its sculptures to decorate his palace there.

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Assur.

          The first capital of a people who named their city after their major god, and who in time built a vast empire which included Iraq, Syria, Anatolia, Iran, Egypt, and part of Arabia.
          Assur (today called Qalat Shergat) is 11 kms. to the south of Mosul, near Himrin mountains believed by the Assyrians to be the abode of god Assur. It lies on a stony hill overlooking the Tigris on the east. To the north of it is the river's old course. It was fortified by an inner wall and an outside wall, with several gateways.
It had been a human settlement long before it beccame a capital, and it was known to have come under the dominion of Akkad, of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and of the Babylonians in the 31st year of Hammurabi's reign.
          Assur continued to be the Assyrian capital until Ashurnasirpal (883 - 859 B.C.) removed the seat of power to Nimrud (Kalakh), where his son Shalmaneser III reigned after him. But Assur maintained its religious distinction. Its most striking sight today is the Ziggurat, devoted to the god Assur, as well as the ground temple nearby devoted to the same god and called Temple of the Universe. There are also temples devoted to the gods of the sun and the moon, and one with two towers sacred to Anu, god of the sky, and Adad, god of storms.
          The city overflowed its walls, and many buildings were erected beyond them, notably the Akitu temple where the New Year Festivals were celebrated. It was built by Sennacherib on the river bank (now the old course of the Tigris) and had it surrounded by extensive gardens.

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Hatra.

           The ancient Arab city of Hatra, near Wadi Tharthar, is 27 kms. to the west of the Baghdad-Mosul highway, at a point 80 kms. south of Mosul. In architecture, sculpture, metal work, the arts of war, Hatra was no less advanced than Rome. It was another link in the chain of great Arab cities: Palmyra in Syria, Petra in Jordan, and Baalbeck in Lebanon, and others.
          Although we possess few texts that may tell us about the obscure beginings of the city, it seems it began actually to grow sometime in the third century B.C. Before the foundation of kingship around A.D. 156, Hatra was governed by Arab rulers who combined religious and secular authority. Prominent among them was, father of the first two kings of Hatra: Lajash and Sanatruq. the latter was succeede by his son Abd Samia (190 - 200 A.D.), who in turn was succeeded by Sanatruq II (200 - 241 A.D.), the last Arab king of the city.

Plan and Major Buildings;
          When the city comes into view you will see an earthen barrier that goes round it with a diametre of about 3 kms., and about 500 metres away from it you will see a great stone wall with tower bastions and four gateways (as the four points of the compass), noted for their oblique entrances.
          There is a modern entrance to the city today which leads to the eastern cemetery which has stone structures with vaulted halls indicating Arab skill in this kind of architecture. A rectangular building followes: it is the huge Great Temple (437,5 x 32,5 metres).When you enter through one of its eastern doorways, you will come to a spacious courtyard which occupied three-quarters of the temple's area. This open space is separated from the god's quarters by a wall with two triple doors.
Opposite the wall is a sanctuary - a room on a platform with a line of columns on either side. On the right is another sanctuary, with three ewans, the central one being much bigger than the other two, built by Sanatruq I. It has a frieze with sculptures which seem to tell a regligious story enacted by gods and musicians - the most beautiful work of art so far discovered.
          Going round the city you will see a large edifice in front of the recently discovered gateway and the eastern gateway which is just off the street. There are about a dozen other smaller temples scattered throughout the city, all bearing a variety of statues and inscriptions.
          And now, who were the major gods worshipped by the Arabs here ? The Sun god was one. They also worshipped the Eagle and Venus (the morning star) who was called variously Allatu, Atra'ta, and Marthin ("our lady"). Nergoul (the Sumero-Babylonian Nergal), symbolized by the planet Mars, was another of their gods.
          The inscriptions in Hatra are the same alphabet used by Arabs in Palmyra and other Arab cities: it is the Aramaic which spread in most regions of the ancient East.
Near the remains of the ancient Hatra, there is a tourist rest-house, hotel & resturant.

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Duhok Governorate.

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          At a distance of 73 kms. from Mosul lies Duhok, the centre of the Governorate, at an opening in the mountain also called Duhok.
          It is known nation-wide for its vast vineyards and its excellent grapes, figs and pomegranates. Before getting to it the visitors will see an old tell with the ruins of a castle, an indication of an ancient settlement which, most probably, dates back to Assyrian times. The area is rich in scnic beauty, where nature is lavish with water and vegetation. There are several sites and summer resorts in it, notably the following:

Amadiya Antique Castle:

          Perched on top of a mountain 1400 metres above sea-level, this impregnable castle played a prominent role in the ancient history of Iraq. It is elliptical in shape, founded on a large rock which is in one piece, surrounded by mountain tops. It has two gates, Zebar Gate - leading to Zebar region, and Mosul Gate - leading to Mosul. On the latter gate images are carved portraying warriors with spears, swords and shields; under their feet is a grest snake which unwinds itself all the way up to the gate's arch. The castle was called after Imaduddin Zangi, who built it in 537 Hijra (Islamic calander). It is about 90 kms. away from the governorate centre, and the road to it is asphalted and good condition.

The Abbasid Bridge:

          This durable well-shaped stone bridge across the Khabour river is considered to be one of the most interesting remains in Iraq.
It is still a natural state and in constant use - a site popular with tourists. It is 55 kms. away from governorate centre and has a good asphalted road leading to it.




Major resorts in Duhok:




1. Zawita:
17 kms. away from Duhok, 90 kms. from Mosul, 885 metres above sea-level, with a maximum of temperature of 38 ºC. Zawita is distinguished for its pine-forests: its extensive shady spots make it particularly attractive in the summer. Its name is Aramaic, meaning 'Corner'. Somewhere nearby is a wide cleft in the mountain called Gully Zawita. There is a well-furnished tourist rest-house in Zawita.

2. Suara Tuga:
22 kms. from Zawita, 112 kms. from Mosul, 1,507 metres above sea-level, with maximum temperature of 33 ºC, it is one of the best situated summer resorts in the north. It overlook a deep valley, with higher mountains on either side which seen to give the place a perfect climate, with poplars, cypress trees and a variety of summer gruit-trees. There is a large up-to-date hotel in the middle of gardens which give on to two plains, Bamarny and Suara Tuga, between which rises the Sura Tuga chain of mountains.There are also a number of turist cabins of different sizes, all well furnished.

3. Ashawa:
Just about 5 kms. before you get to Sarsang you will come across Ashawa, alovely summer resort famed for its waterfall. There is a restaurant, together with some local shops.

4. Sarsang:
Upon leaving Suara Tuga the road descends east until, a few kms. away, it hits Bamarny, then Sikreen, famed for its water and vineyards. Some distance away is Sarsang (126 kms. from Mosul), one of the most appealing summer resorts in Iraq. It rises 1,046 metres above sea-level, with a maximum tempeature of 34 ºC. A lovely climate, cold water cascading from mountain springs, forests of cypress trees and poplars, diversity of fruit-tree in endless orchards, await the visitors to Sarsang, where there are several touristic establishments.

5. Anshki:
On the way to Amadiya, 15 kms. from Sarsang, you will find Anshki in a lovely spot overlooking the plains of Sarsang.

6. Araden:
Close to Anshki. This resorts has a healthy climate, plentiful waters, and beautiful nature, all at a height of 1400 metres above sea-level. 144 kms. away from Mosul.

7. Sulaf:
In a beautiful valley in the mountains, 5 kms. before Amadiya, 1,150 metres high above sea-level, with gorgeous waterfalls, one of which cascades from a height of 25 metres. Sulaf is noted for its plentiful fruit trees and the large number of its natural caves. A good 166 kms. road, well asphalted connects Sulaf with Mosul.

8. Amadiya:
37 kms. away from Sarsang, at a height of 1,980 metres above sea-level, is Amadiya: on top of the mountains which rise high above the whole district - endless green valleys and fertile plains.

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Sulaimaniya Governorate.

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          Sulaimaniya is famed for its woods and forests and especially its walnut trees which are particularly plentiful in Bibyara and Twaila. These two villages are also famed, apart from natural beauty, for their vineyards.
          The oldest cultural settlements in this area go back to paleolithic times. When written history begins we find that the Assyrians called this province and Shahrazour Plain by the name of "Samwa". In Derbandkawa, Kara Dagh mountains, the Akkadian king Naram Sin (2291 - 2255 B.C.) immortalized his victory over the enemy in a famous stela of great artistry.
          Shahrazour Plain, one of the most fertile in the north, is about 2000 square kms. in area, bounded on the north by Horman
mountains, which the Arab once called Jibal Sha'ran, and on the south by the Diyala river. The Arabs lived in these parts long before Islam, and one of the tribes here was Banu Sheiban. The Hatra Arabs fought fierce battles with the Persians and defeated them in the Battle of Shahrazour in the first half of the 3rd century A.D.

          The governorate's centre is Sulamaniya, which was built by an Ottoman wali called Sulaiman Pasha the Great, in 1780. It is 900 metres high above sea-level, in the middle of a mountain chain. It has two approaches: one from Kirkuk, by a 365 km. road and the other from Baquba, Jelawlaa, Derbendikhan, by 333 km. road. Both roads are well built.

Major resorts in Sulaimanyia:


1. Sarchinar:
5 kms. from Sulaimaniya, this summer resort lies amidst tall trees and flowing waters. There are serveral tourist houses.

2. Dokan Lake:
71 kms. from Sulaimaniya, 141 kms. from Kirkuk. A large beautiful blue lake (from the Dokan dam), with a rest-houses and a number of restaurants.

3. Derbendikhan Lake:
65 kms. from Sulaimaniya, 268 kms. from Baghdad. Another large beautiful lake (from the Derbendikhan dam). Excellent for boating, with tourist facilites.

4. Ahmad Awa:
A delightful mountain resort accessible by a paved road 75 kms. long off Sulaimaniya.

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Arbil Governorate.

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          This governorate is of great historical importance, and because of its main city's prominence the central goverment in Baghdad has made it the seat of the Autonomous Region in order to secure for all national groups the right of full self-expression within the frame-work of one unified land, where reigns mutural respect among these brotherly groups.

          Early in this guide we said something about this part of the country being the most important place in the world for the study of the culture of Neanderthal man 35,000 - 70,000 years ago. Cuneiform inscriptions suggest that Arbil was very well-known towards the end of the 3rd millennium B.C. Syrian inscriptions of the second millennium refer to it as Urbilum or Arbilum. In Assyrian and Babylonian texts it is called Arba Ilu (the four gods). It was a centre of the worship of Ishtar, whose temple was called E-kshan-klama (House of the Lady of the Regions); there was in it also a temple devoted to the god Assur. A stela of Ashurbanipal (668 - 627 B.C.) was unearthed in it, together with images of other Assyrian kings. Sennacherib (705 - 681) built an irrigation canal which carried water down to the city from Bastura Valley, 20 kms. away. The valley will be seen by visitors as they drives to Salahuddin summer resort. At Bastura where the canal starts there is a well-built stone wall with a cuneiform transcription which reads; "I, Sennacherib king of Assyria have dug three rivers in Khani Mountains above Arbil, home of the venrated Lady Goddess Ishtar, and made their courses straight."
          In Islamic times Arbil flourished again. Arab historians mention its fortress which has been reconstructed recently. It rises upon a great mound which hides several layers of ancient pre-Islamic settlements.
Arbil has an old minaret, called Mudhaffariya after its governor Mudhaffaruddin (died 1132 A.D.). Belonging to a large mosque no more extant, its decorative brickwork is rather similar to that of the Nurid Mosques in Mosul and Dahouk. The city is almost half-way between Mosul and Kirkuk: 86 kms. away from the former, 93 from the latter.

Major resorts in Arbil:


1. Salahuddin:
Built on Mount Pirmam, overlooking the plain which stretches as far as Arbil on one hand, and Mount Safin on the other, it is 32 kms. away from Arbil. Height above sea-lavel: 1090 metres; maximum temperature in the summer: 36°C.
One of the loveliest spots in the country with its cypress and oak trees.

2. Sara Rush:
The nearest resort to Salahuddin - only 9 kms. away on a well built road, where temperature is 8 °C lower than in Salahuddin. It has several touristic facilities.

3. Shaqlawa:
Some 18 kms. away from Salahuddin. This summer resort lies on a slope of Mount Safin at 966 metres above sea-lavel, with a max. temperature of 35°C. A place of great scenic beauty with many mountain tops around it, and rich in orchards: walnuts, almonds, pomegranates, grapes, apples, pears, all grow in profusion here, together with endless poplars and cypresses. A lot of tourist facilities.

4. The Plain of Harir Batass:
After visiting Shaqlawa a good road will take you down to Harir - a village in the plain of Harir Batass, famed for its exceptional fertility and plentiful waters, for its excellent honey and tobacco, towered over on the right by the Harir mountain range.
In between the few farming villages you will see many ancient tells that date back to different ages in the country's history.On the right, there is a large rock sculpture, 50 metres high and 2,5 metres wide, showing a man standing with a conical hat and long wide trousers streching out his right arm, with a long spear beside him.

The road climbs up to Spillik Mountains (an extension of Harir Mountains), thickly covered with oak-trees.Winding up several times, the road finally drops down to khleifan village, 21 kms, away from Harir, in a valley where one of the tributaries of river Zab flows, 2 kms away from the mouth of the famous mountain pass Gully Ali Beg.
A road branches out to the left leading up to Shanidar, which acquired world fame when in a cave, the largest of its kind in northern Iraq, skeletons were found belonging to Neanderthal man.
The Shanidar cave was a habitation for shifting tribes and shepherds in the early Paleolithic age.

5. Gully Ali Beg and its waterfall:
This is a place of such striking beauty; one must see it. The Gully is a narrow 10 kms. long pass between Mount Kork and Mount Nwathnin, 60 kms. away from Shaqlawa.
The mountain view is made even more gorgeous by a fantastic waterfall which tumbles down from a spot 800 metres high above sea-level.

6. Beikhal Waterfalls:
About 10 kms. beyond Rawanduz, the visitor will come across a great roaring waterfalls pouring down from mountain tops in a green cool spot thick with trees all around.

7. Jindian:
From Rawanduz it is a short jump to Jindian, another sylvan spot with fresh spring waters.

8. Derbendi Rayat:
On the way to Haj Omran, about 50 kms. from the Gully Ali Beg.

9. Haj Omran:
On the north-east border, to the east of Mount Hassarost, 69 kms. from the Gully's waterfall. This summer resort, 1.780 metres above sea-level, is very cool at night but remarkably temperate by day, with a max. temp. of 28ºC. In winter, the temp. drops down sharply to -15ºC sbelow zero, and snow falls. This makes Haj Omran ideal for skiing, which attracts many tourists.

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Kirkuk Governorate.

          This governorate played a major role in man's early history from early Paleolithic times (100.000 years ago) in parda Balka, down to the Neolithic age (8.000 years ago).
The earliest farming village in the world, where man learned to plant seeds for first time, is Jarmo, near Chamchamal in this part of Iraq. Another spot of ancient historical interest is Nuzi Y organ Tappeh, 25 kms. to the south-east of Kirkuk, the centre of the governorate, where excavators discovered dwellings, a temple, a palace, cuneiform inscriptions of a legal and economic nature, all of which go back to the middle of the second millennium B.C.
This period was noted for its particularly fine pottery which has been called after the village. Even more ancient traces here go back to the Sumerians and Akkadians, who called the town Ga-Sur.
It was here that the most ancient map in the world was found - it belonged to the Akkadian Era, 4.300 years ago.
In Kirkuk you see the Castle, one of its oldest extant monuments.




[ Samarra | Mosul | Nineveh | Nimrud | Khorsabad | Assur | Hatra 
| Duhok | Sulaimaniya | Arbil | Kirkuk ]





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