Baghdad

The name Baghdad is pre-Islamic, and its origin is disputed. The site where the city of Baghdad developed has been populated for millennia. Archaeological evidence shows that the site of Baghdad was occupied by various peoples long before the Arab conquest of Mesopotamia in 637 CE, and several ancient empires had capitals located in the surrounding area.{{cite web |title=Baghdad, Foundation and early growth |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Baghdad |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151009070155/https://www.britannica.com/place/Baghdad |archive-date=9 October 2015 |access-date=21 October 2015 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |quote=[...] the site located between present-day Al-Kāẓimiyyah and Al-Karkh and occupied by a Persian village called Baghdad, was selected by al-Manṣūr, the second caliph of the Abbāsid dynasty, for his capital.}}

Arab authors, realizing the pre-Islamic origins of Baghdad's name, generally looked for its roots in Middle Persian.{{Cite encyclopedia |author=Duri, A.A. |title=Bag̲h̲dād |year=2012 |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |edition=2nd |publisher=Brill |editor=P. Bearman |editor2=Th. Bianquis |editor3=C.E. Bosworth |editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=W.P. Heinrichs |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0084}} They suggested various meanings, the most common of which was "bestowed by God".{{Cite book |last=Everett-Heath |first=John |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780191882913.001.0001/acref-9780191882913;jsessionid=7E75D9FF952E16EB73A7CFDF54E367A4 |title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Place Names |date=2019-10-24 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-188291-3 |language=en-US |doi=10.1093/acref/9780191882913.001.0001}} Modern scholars generally tend to favor this etymology, which views the word as a Persian compound of bagh (25px) "god" and dād (30px) "given".Mackenzie, D. (1971). A concise Pahlavi Dictionary (p. 23, 16).{{cite web |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/baghdad-iranian-connection-1-pr-Mongol |title=BAGHDAD i. Before the Mongol Invasion – Encyclopædia Iranica |publisher=Iranicaonline.org |access-date=16 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117020537/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/baghdad-iranian-connection-1-pr-Mongol |archive-date=17 November 2017 |url-status=live}} In Old Persian the first element can be traced to boghu and is related to Indo-Iranian bhag and Slavic bog "god."Guy Le Strange, "Baghdad During the Abbasid Caliphate from Contemporary Arabic and Persian", pg 10 A similar term in Middle Persian is the name Mithradāt (Mehrdad in New Persian), known in English by its borrowed Hellenistic form Mithridates, meaning "Given by Mithra" (dāt is the more archaic form of dād, related to Sanskrit dāt, Latin dat and English donor), ultimately borrowed from Persian Mehrdad. There are a number of other locations whose names are compounds of the Middle Persian word bagh, including Baghlan and Bagram in Afghanistan, Baghshan in Iran itself,Joneidi, F. (2007). متن‌های پهلوی. In Pahlavi Script and Language (Arsacid and Sassanid) نامه پهلوانی: آموزش خط و زبان پهلوی اشکانی و ساسانی (second ed., p. 109). Tehran: Balkh (نشر بلخ). and Baghdati in Georgia, which likely share the same etymological Iranic origins.{{cite news |title=Persimmons surviving winter in Bagdati, Georgia |url=http://www.georgianjournal.ge/image-page.html?view=item&id=300 |access-date=22 September 2016 |agency=Georgian Journal |date=22 February 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160923104427/http://www.georgianjournal.ge/image-page.html?view=item&id=300 |archive-date=23 September 2016 |url-status=live}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p5U3AAAAIAAJ&q=baghdad+aramaic+christian+villages&pg=PA564 |title=E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam 1913-1936 |publisher=BRILL |year=1987 |isbn=978-90-04-08265-6 |access-date=4 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204231802/https://books.google.com/books?id=p5U3AAAAIAAJ&q=baghdad+aramaic+christian+villages&pg=PA564 |archive-date=4 February 2021 |url-status=live}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p5U3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA564 |title=E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam 1913-1936 |date=1987 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-08265-6 |pages=564– |oclc=1025754805 |access-date=19 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201004095341/https://books.google.com/books?id=p5U3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA564 |archive-date=4 October 2020 |url-status=live}}

Other authors have suggested older origins for the name, in particular the name Bagdadu or Hudadu that existed in Old Babylonian (spelled with a sign that can represent both bag and hu), and the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic name of a place called Baghdatha ({{lang|tmr|בגדתא}}).{{cite book |editor1=John Block Friedman |editor2=Kristen Mossler Figg |date=4 July 2013 |title=Trade, Travel, and Exploration in the Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia |publisher=Routledge |pages= |isbn=978-1-135-59094-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-OmCfNI_SxAC |access-date=23 July 2022 |archive-date=28 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200128003749/https://books.google.com/books?id=-OmCfNI_SxAC |url-status=live }}{{cite book |author=Brinkmann J.a. |date=1968 |title=Political history of Post-Kassite Babylonia (1158-722 b. C.) (A) |publisher=Pontificio Istituto Biblico |pages= |isbn=978-88-7653-243-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iykVSxTD7usC |access-date=23 July 2022 |archive-date=23 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723204246/https://books.google.com/books?id=iykVSxTD7usC |url-status=live }} Some scholars suggested Aramaic derivations.

Another view, suggested by Christophe Wall-Romana, is that name of "Baghdad" is derived from "Akkad", as the cuneiform logogram for Akkad ({{lang|akk|𒀀𒂵𒉈𒆠}}) is pronounced "a-ga-dè^KI" ("Agade") and its resemblance to "Baghdad" is compelling.{{Cite journal |last=Wall-Romana |first=Christophe |date=1990 |title=An Areal Location of Agade |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/546244 |journal=Journal of Near Eastern Studies |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=205–245, 244 |doi=10.1086/373442 |jstor=546244 |s2cid=161165836 |issn=0022-2968}}{{Cite book |last=Sallaberger |first=Walther |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/43521617 |title=Akkade-Zeit und Ur III-Zeit |date=1999 |publisher=Universitätsverlag |others=Aage Westenholz |isbn=978-3-7278-1210-1 |location=Freiburg, Schweiz |page=245 |oclc=43521617}} It is argued that, throughout all the various spellings of the city's name, whether Baghdad [بغداد], Baghdadh [بغداذ], Baghdan [بغدان], Maghdad [مغداد], Maghdadh [مغداذ], or Maghdan [مغدان], the only phonetically definite segment of the name appears to be Aghda [ىَغْدَا], which could be equated with the pronunciation of the name Agade.{{Cite web |last=Le Strange |first=Guy |title=Baghdad During the Abbasid Caliphate from Contemporary Arabic and Persian Sources |url=https://archive.org/details/BaghdadDuringTheAbbasidCaliphateFromContemporaryArabicAndPersian/page/n49/mode/2up |website=Internet Archive |pages=10-11}}

When the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur founded a completely new city for his capital, he chose the name "City of peace" ({{langx|ar|مدینة السلام|links=no|translit=Madīnat as-Salām}}),which now refers to the Round City of Baghdad proper. Another explanation is that the Sorani Kurdish language words of bagh ({{lang|ckb|باخ}}), which means "the garden of"; and dad ({{lang|ckb|داد}}), which stands for "Justice". This was the official name on coins, weights, and other official usage, although the common people continued to use the old name.{{cite web |url=http://seenjeem.maktoob.com/question?category_id=4&level=L2&question_id=9510 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20120713093613/http://seenjeem.maktoob.com/question?category_id=4&level=L2&question_id=9510 |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 July 2012 |title=ما معنى اسم مدينة بغداد ومن سماه ؟ |publisher=Seenjeem.maktoob.com |access-date=27 April 2010}}{{cite web |title=ما معنى (بغداد)؟ العراق العالم العربي الجغرافيا |url=http://ejabat.google.com/ejabat/thread?tid=6981074380f32f74 |website=Google Ejabat |access-date=27 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131229160415/http://ejabat.google.com/ejabat/thread?tid=6981074380f32f74 |archive-date=29 December 2013 |language=ar}}{{Unreliable source?|date=December 2017}} By the 11th century, Baghdad became almost the exclusive name for the world-renowned metropolis.

Christophe Wall-Romana has suggested that al-Mansur's choice to found his "new city" at Baghdad because of its strategic location was the same criteria which influenced Sargon's choice to found the original city of Akkad in the exact same location.{{Cite journal |last=Wall-Romana |first=Christophe |date=1990 |title=An Areal Location of Agade |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/546244 |journal=Journal of Near Eastern Studies |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=234–238, 244–245 |doi=10.1086/373442 |jstor=546244 |s2cid=161165836 |issn=0022-2968}}{{Cite book |last=Sallaberger |first=Walther |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/43521617 |title=Akkade-Zeit und Ur III-Zeit |date=1999 |publisher=Universitätsverlag |others=Aage Westenholz |isbn=978-3-7278-1210-1 |location=Freiburg, Schweiz |pages=32 |oclc=43521617}}

{{Main|History of Baghdad}}

{{For timeline}}

File:Baghdad_150_to_300_AH.png between 767 and 912 AD|left]]

After the fall of the Umayyads, the victorious Abbasids sought a new capital. On July 30, 762, the Caliph Al-Mansur commissioned Baghdad's construction, guided by the Iranian Barmakids. He believed Baghdad was ideal for ruling the Islamic Empire. Historian al-Tabari recorded a prophecy from Christian monks about a leader named Miklas building a great city in the area, and Al-Mansur, who was once called Miklas, saw this as a good omen. He expressed deep affection for the site, declaring it would be the home of his dynasty.{{cite book |last=Corzine |first=Phyllis |title=The Islamic Empire |publisher=Thomson Gale |year=2005 |pages=68–69}}{{Cite book |title=Times History of the World |publisher=Times Books |year=2000 |location=London}}{{harvnb|Bobrick|2012|p=14}}{{Cite book |last=Wiet |first=Gastron |url=https://archive.org/details/baghdadmetropoli00wiet |title=Baghdad: Metropolis of the Abbasid Caliphate |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=1971 |isbn=978-0-8061-0922-0 |url-access=registration}}

The two designers who were hired by Al-Mansur to plan the city's design were Naubakht, a Zoroastrian who also determined that the date of the foundation of the city would be astrologically auspicious, and Mashallah, a Jew from Khorasan, Iran.{{cite book |last=Hill |first=Donald R. |title=Islamic Science and Engineering |publisher=Edinburgh Univ. Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-7486-0457-9 |location=Edinburgh |page=10}}Islam's Contribution to Science By Husain Muzzafar, S. Muzaffar Husain, pg. 31{{Cite web |title=Māshāʾallāh ibn Atharī (Sāriya) {{!}} ISMI |url=https://ismi.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/biography/Masha'allah_ibn_Athari_BEA.htm |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=ismi.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de |language=en}} They determined the city's auspicious founding date under the sign of Leo the lion, symbolizing strength and expansion.{{sfn|Wiet|1971|p=12}}

Baghdad's strategic location along the Tigris and its abundant water supply contributed to its rapid growth. It was divided into three judicial districts: Round City (Madinat al-Mansur), al-Karkh (al-Sharqiyya), and Askar al-Mahdi. To prevent disturbances, Al-Mansur moved markets to al-Karkh. Over time, Baghdad became a hub for merchants and craftsmen. Officials called "Muhtasib" monitored trade to prevent fraud.{{Cite book |last=Tillier |first=Mathieu |title=Les cadis d'Iraq et l'État Abbasside (132/750-334/945) |date=2009 |publisher=Presses de l'Ifpo |isbn=978-2-35159-028-7 |doi=10.4000/books.ifpo.673}}{{Cite book |last=Bosworth |first=Clifford Edmund |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UB4uSVt3ulUC |title=Historic Cities of the Islamic World |date=2007-01-01 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-15388-2 |language=en}}

Baghdad surpassed Ctesiphon, the former Sassanid capital, located 30 km southeast. The ruins of Ctesiphon remain in Salman Pak, where Salman the Persian is believed to be buried.{{cite web |title=سلمان الفارسي - الصحابة - موسوعة الاسرة المسلمة |url=http://islam.aljayyash.net/encyclopedia/book-9-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029191728/http://islam.aljayyash.net/encyclopedia/book-9-28 |archive-date=2013-10-29 |access-date=2012-12-25 |publisher=Islam.aljayyash.net |language=ar}} Ctesiphon itself had replaced Seleucia, which had earlier succeeded Babylon.[https://web.archive.org/web/20080505055518/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/g/gibbon/edward/g43d/chapter8.html#fn8.37 The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon][https://www.academia.edu/1904365/Excavated_and_Unexcavated_Libraries_in_Babylon] Pedersén, Olof, "Excavated and Unexcavated Libraries in Babylon", Babylon: Wissenskultur in Orient und Okzident, edited by Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Margarete van Ess and Joachim Marzahn, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 47-68, 2011 According to the traveler Ibn Battuta, Baghdad was one of the largest cities,{{harvnb|Dunn|2005|p=102}}; {{harvnb|Defrémery|Sanguinetti|1854|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=m-UHAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA142 142 Vol. 2]}} not including the damage it has received. The residents are mostly Hanbalis.{{citation |author1=Zayn Kassam |title=The Shi'i World |year=2015 |editor=Farhad Daftory |chapter=Remembering Fatima and Zaynab: Gender in Perspective |publisher=I.B Tauris Press |author2=Bridget Blomfield}} Most residents were Hanbali Muslims. The city housed Abu Hanifa’s grave, marked by a mosque and cell.{{cite book |last1=al-Aadhamy |first1=Waleed |title=Elders of Time and Neighbors of Nu'man |date=2001 |publisher=al-Raqeem Library |location=Baghdad}} Its ruler, Abu Said Bahadur Khan, was a Tatar who had embraced Islam.Battuta, pg. 75{{full citation needed|date=July 2020}}

Baghdad was designed to symbolize Paradise as described in the Qur'an.{{Cite web |title='Soul Of Old Baghdad': City Centre Sees Timid Revival |url=https://www.forbesindia.com/article/lifes/soul-of-old-baghdad-city-centre-sees-timid-revival/94371/1 |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=Forbes India |language=en}} It took four years (764–768) to build, with over 100,000 workers involved. Al-Mansur recruited engineers and artisans worldwide. Astrologers Naubakht Ahvazi and Mashallah advised starting construction under Leo, associated with fire, productivity, and expansion. Bricks for the city were 18 inches square, and Abu Hanifah supervised their production. A canal supplied water for drinking and construction. Marble was used extensively, including steps leading to the river.{{cite book |last=Corzine |first=Phyllis |title=The Islamic Empire |publisher=Thomson Gale |year=2005 |page=69}}{{sfn|Wiet|1971|p=13}}{{sfn|Wiet|1971|p=12}}{{cite web |title=Abbasid Ceramics: Plan of Baghdad |url=http://islamicceramics.ashmol.ox.ac.uk/Abbasid/baghdad.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030325090348/http://islamicceramics.ashmol.ox.ac.uk/Abbasid/baghdad.htm |archive-date=25 March 2003 |access-date=5 October 2014}}"Yakut: Baghdad under the Abbasids, c. 1000CE"

The city’s layout consisted of two large semicircles, with a 2 km-wide circular core known as the "Round City." It had parks, gardens, villas, and promenades. Unlike European cities of the time, Baghdad had a sanitation system, fountains, and public baths, with thousands of hammams enhancing hygiene. The mosque and guard headquarters stood at the center, though some central space's function remains unknown. Baghdad’s circular design reflected ancient Near Eastern urban planning, similar to the Sasanian city of Gur and older Mesopotamian cities like Mari.{{harvnb|Bobrick|2012|p=65}}{{harvnb|Bobrick|2012|p=67}} While Tell Chuera and Tell al-Rawda also provide examples of this type of urban planning existing in Bronze Age Syria.Jan-Waalke Meyer, Tell Chuera: Vorberichte zu den Grabungskampagnen 1998 bis 2005, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2010 ,{{ISBN|978-3-447-06182-7}}Helms, Tobias, and Philippe Quenet, "The Fortifiction of Circular Cities: The Examples of Tell Chuēra and Tell al-Rawda", Circular Cities of Early Bronze Age Syria, pp. 77-99, 2020 This style of urban planning contrasted with Ancient Greek and Roman urban planning, in which cities are designed as squares or rectangles with streets intersecting each other at right angles.

Baghdad was lively, with attractions like cabarets, chess halls, live plays, concerts, and acrobatics.{{cite web |last1=Kennedy |first1=H. |title=BAGHDAD i. Before the Mongol Invasion – Encyclopaedia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/baghdad-iranian-connection-1-pr-Mongol |access-date=24 January 2018 |website=Iranicaonline.org |language=en}} Storytelling flourished, with professional storytellers (al-Qaskhun) captivating crowds, inspiring the tales of Arabian Nights.{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2007 |title=Arabian Nights |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |editor=Kate Fleet |edition=3rd |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_0021 |quote=Arabian Nights, the work known in Arabic as Alf layla wa-layla |author=Marzolph, Ulrich |editor2=Gudrun Krämer |editor3=Denis Matringe |editor4=John Nawas |editor5=Everett Rowson}} The city had four walls named after major destinations—Kufa, Basra, Khurasan, and Syria; their gates pointed in on these destinations.See:

• {{cite book |last=Hattstein |first=Markus |title=Islam Art and Architecture |author2=Peter Delius |publisher=Könemann |year=2000 |isbn=3-8290-2558-0 |pages=96}}
• Encyclopædia Iranica, Columbia University, p.413. The gates were 2.4 km apart, with massive iron doors requiring several men to operate.[http://www.narjesmag.com/news.php?action=view&id=2230 الباب الوسطاني حكاية بغداد المدوّرة وأقدم مدفع عراقي]. Narjes Magazine. Retrieved January 3, 2018. The walls, up to 44 meters thick and 30 meters high, were reinforced with a second wall, towers, and a moat for added defense.{{Cite news |last=Marozzi |first=Justin |date=2016-03-16 |title=Story of cities #3: the birth of Baghdad was a landmark for world civilisation |url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/16/story-cities-day-3-baghdad-iraq-world-civilisation |access-date=2025-04-14 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} On street corners, storytellers engaged crowds with tales such as those later told in Arabian Nights.{{Cite web |title=بالصور.. أبو تحسين آخر حكواتي في بغداد |url=https://www.aljazeera.net/culture/2019/5/16/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%82-%d8%a8%d8%ba%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%af-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%82%d8%b5%d8%ae%d9%88%d9%86-%d8%ad%d9%83%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%aa%d9%8a-%d9%85%d9%82%d9%87%d9%89 |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=الجزيرة نت |language=ar}} The Golden Gate Palace, home of the caliph, stood at Baghdad's center with a grand 48-meter green dome. Only the caliph could approach its esplanade on horseback. Nearby were officer residences and a guardhouse. After Caliph Al-Amin's death in 813, the palace ceased to be the caliph's residence.

{{Further|Islamic Golden Age}}

File:المدرسة المستنصرية في بغداد (3).jpg madrasa, established in 1227, was one of the oldest universities in the world. Its building survived the Mongol invasion of 1258. The modern Mustansiriyah University was established in 1963.]]

Within a generation of its founding, Baghdad became a hub of learning and commerce. The city flourished into an unrivaled intellectual center of science, medicine, philosophy, and education, especially with the Abbasid translation movement began under the second caliph Al-Mansur and thrived under the seventh caliph Al-Ma'mun. Baytul-Hikmah or the "House of Wisdom" was among the most well known academies,[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/sep/26/baghdad-centre-of-scientific-world When Baghdad was centre of the scientific world] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214120137/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/sep/26/baghdad-centre-of-scientific-world |date=14 December 2019 }}. The Guardian. Retrieved 16 February 2019. and had the largest selection of books in the world by the middle of the 9th century.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}} Notable scholars based in Baghdad during this time include translator Hunayn ibn Ishaq, mathematician al-Khwarizmi, and philosopher Al-Kindi.

Although Arabic was used as the international language of science, the scholarship involved not only Arabs, but also Persians, Syriacs,{{Cite book |quote=The population of Hira comprised its townspeople, the 'Ibad "devotees", who were Nestorian Christians using Syriac as their liturgical and cultural language, though Arabic was probably the language of daily intercourse. |date=1983 |editor-last=Yarshater |editor-first=E. |title=The Cambridge History of Iran |doi=10.1017/chol9780521200929 |isbn=978-1-139-05494-2}} Nestorians, Jews, Arab Christians,{{Cite book |title=Early Islam – The hidden origins of Islam: new research into its early history |last=Ohlig |first=Karl-Heinz |publisher=Prometheus Books |quote=The 'Ibad are tribes made up of different Arabian families that became connected with Christianity in al-Hira. |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-61614-825-6 |page=32 |oclc=914334282}}{{Cite encyclopedia |last1=Beeston |first1=A.F.L. |last2=Shahîd |first2=Irfan |title=al-ḤĪRA |year=2012 |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |edition=2nd |publisher=Brill |editor=P. Bearman |editor2=Th. Bianquis |editor3=C.E. Bosworth |editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=W.P. Heinrichs |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_sim_2891}} and people from other ethnic and religious groups native to the region.{{Cite book |last=Meri |first=Josef |date=12 January 2018 |title=Routledge Revivals: Medieval Islamic Civilization (2006) |doi=10.4324/9781315162416 |isbn=978-1-315-16241-6}}{{Cite journal |date=July 1933 |title=Sir Henry Lyons, F.R.S |journal=Nature |volume=132 |issue=3323 |page=55 |doi=10.1038/132055c0 |issn=0028-0836 |bibcode=1933Natur.132S..55. |s2cid=47244046|doi-access=free }}{{Cite book |title=Medieval Islamic medicine |last=Pormann |first=Peter E. |date=2007 |publisher=Georgetown University Press |others=Savage-Smith, Emilie. |isbn=978-1-58901-160-1 |location=Washington, D.C. |oclc=71581787}}{{cite web |url=http://humanitieswest.net/baghdad-in-its-golden-age-762-1300/ |title=Baghdad in Its Golden Age (762–1300) {{!}} 25–26 April 2014|last=HumWest|date=14 March 2015|website=Humanities West |access-date=5 February 2019 |archive-date=7 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207020302/http://humanitieswest.net/baghdad-in-its-golden-age-762-1300/ |url-status=live}} These are considered among the fundamental elements that contributed to the flourishing of scholarship in the Medieval Islamic world.{{Cite journal |last1=Falagas |first1=Matthew E. |last2=Zarkadoulia |first2=Effie A. |last3=Samonis |first3=George |date=1 August 2006 |title=Arab science in the golden age (750–1258 C.E.) and today |journal=The FASEB Journal |volume=20 |issue=10 |pages=1581–1586 |doi=10.1096/fj.06-0803ufm |doi-access=free |pmid=16873881 |s2cid=40960150 |issn=0892-6638 |url=http://www.fasebj.org/content/20/10/1581.full.pdf |access-date=14 September 2022 |archive-date=21 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821205855/http://www.fasebj.org/content/20/10/1581.full.pdf |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |last=Saliba |first=George |date=2007 |title=Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance |doi=10.7551/mitpress/3981.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-262-28288-8}}{{Cite book |title=The House of Wisdom : How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization |first=Jonathan |last=Lyons |date=2011 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-60819-190-1 |oclc=1021808136}} Baghdad was also a significant center of Islamic religious learning, with Al-Jahiz contributing to the formation of Mu'tazili theology, as well as Al-Tabari culminating in the scholarship on the Quranic exegesis.Gordon, M.S. (2006). Baghdad. In Meri, J.W. ed. Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia. New York: Routledge. Baghdad is likely to have been the largest city in the world from shortly after its foundation until the 930s, when it tied with Córdoba.{{cite web |url=http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm |title=Largest Cities Through History |publisher=Geography.about.com |date=2 November 2009 |access-date=27 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050527095609/http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm |archive-date=27 May 2005 |url-status=live}} Several estimates suggest that the city contained over a million inhabitants at its peak.Matt T. Rosenberg, [http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm Largest Cities Through History.] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050527095609/http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm |date=27 May 2005 }} Many of the One Thousand and One Nights tales, widely known as the Arabian Nights, are set in Baghdad during this period. It would surpass even Constantinople in prosperity and size.{{cite book |last1=Bobrick |first1=Benson |title=The Caliph's Splendor: Islam and the West in the Golden Age of Baghdad |date=2012 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-4165-6762-2 |page=65}}

File:Khan murjan.jpg, built in the 14th century as a caravanserai]]

Among the notable features of Baghdad during this period were its exceptional libraries. Many of the Abbasid caliphs were patrons of learning and enjoyed collecting both ancient and contemporary literature. Although some of the princes of the previous Umayyad dynasty had begun to gather and translate Greek scientific literature, the Abbasids were the first to foster Greek learning on a large scale. Many of these libraries were private collections intended only for the use of the owners and their immediate friends, but the libraries of the caliphs and other officials soon took on a public or a semi-public character.Mackensen, Ruth Stellhorn . (1932). Four Great Libraries of Medieval Baghdad. The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy, Vol. 2, No. 3 (July 1932), pp. 279-299. University of Chicago Press.

Four great libraries were established in Baghdad during this period. The earliest was that of the famous Al-Ma'mun, who was caliph from 813 to 833. Another was established by Sabur ibn Ardashir in 991 or 993 for the literary men and scholars who frequented his academy. This second library was plundered and burned by the Seljuks only seventy years after it was established. This was a good example of the sort of library built up out of the needs and interests of a literary society. The last two were examples of madrasa or theological college libraries. The Nezamiyeh was founded by the Persian Nizam al-Mulk, who was vizier of two early Seljuk sultans. It continued to operate even after the coming of the Mongols in 1258. The Mustansiriyah madrasa, which owned an exceedingly rich library, was founded by Al-Mustansir, the second last Abbasid caliph, who died in 1242. This would prove to be the last great library built by the caliphs of Baghdad.

File:AlKhulafa Mosque in Baghdad 46.jpg retains an Abbasid-era minaret]]

File:Zubaida tomb.JPG in Baghdad (built in 1202 AD)|left]]

By the 10th century, the city's population was between 1.2 millionGeorge Modelski, World Cities: –3000 to 2000, Washington, D.C.: FAROS 2000, 2003. {{ISBN|978-0-9676230-1-6}}. See also [http://faculty.washington.edu/modelski/ Evolutionary World Politics Homepage] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070520065457/http://faculty.washington.edu/modelski/ |date=20 May 2007}} and 2 million.{{Cite book |title=International dictionary of historic places, Volume 4: Middle East and Africa |author1=Trudy Ring |author2=Robert M. Salkin |author3=K. A. Berney |author4=Paul E. Schellinger |year=1996 |publisher=Taylor and Francis |page=116}} Baghdad's early meteoric growth eventually slowed due to troubles within the Caliphate, including relocations of the capital to Samarra (during 808–819 and 836–892), the loss of the western and easternmost provinces, and periods of political domination by the Iranian Buwayhids (945–1055) and Seljuk Turks (1055–1135). The Seljuks were a clan of the Oghuz Turks from Central Asia that converted to the Sunni branch of Islam. In 1040, they destroyed the Ghaznavids, taking over their land and in 1055, Tughril Beg, the leader of the Seljuks, took over Baghdad. The Seljuks expelled the Buyid dynasty of Shiites that had ruled for some time and took over power and control of Baghdad. They ruled as Sultans in the name of the Abbasid caliphs (they saw themselves as being part of the Abbasid regime). Tughril Beg saw himself as the protector of the Abbasid Caliphs.Atlas of the Medieval World pg. 170

Baghdad was captured in 1394, 1534, 1623 and 1638. The city has been sieged in 812, 865, 946, 1157, 1258 and in 1393 and 1401, by Tamerlane. In 1058, Baghdad was captured by the Fatimids under the Turkish general Abu'l-Ḥārith Arslān al-Basasiri, an adherent of the Ismailis along with the 'Uqaylid Quraysh.Virani, Shafique N. The Ismailis in the Middle Ages: A History of Survival, A Search for Salvation, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 6. Not long before the arrival of the Saljuqs in Baghdad, al-Basasiri petitioned to the Fatimid Imam-Caliph al-Mustansir to support him in conquering Baghdad on the Ismaili Imam's behalf. It has recently come to light that the famed Fatimid da'i, al-Mu'ayyad al-Shirazi, had a direct role in supporting al-Basasiri and helped the general to succeed in taking Mawṣil, Wāsit and Kufa. Soon after,Daftary, Farhad. The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, 205-206. by December 1058, a Shi'i adhān (call to prayer) was implemented in Baghdad and a khutbah (sermon) was delivered in the name of the Fatimid Imam-Caliph. Despite his Shi'i inclinations, Al-Basasiri received support from Sunnis and Shi'is alike, for whom opposition to the Saljuq power was a common factor.Daftary, Farhad. The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, 206.

File:Fall Of Baghdad (Diez Albums).jpg by the Mongols in 1258 CE|220x220px]]

On 10 February 1258, Baghdad was captured by the Mongols led by Hulegu, a grandson of Genghis Khan (Chingiz Khan), during the siege of Baghdad.[https://faculty.washington.edu/modelski/CAWC.htm Central Asian world cities] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118121401/https://faculty.washington.edu/modelski/CAWC.htm |date=18 January 2012}}, George Modelski Many quarters were ruined by fire, siege, or looting. The Mongols massacred most of the city's inhabitants, including the caliph Al-Musta'sim, and destroyed large sections of the city. The canals and dykes forming the city's irrigation system were also destroyed. During this time, in Baghdad, Christians and Shia were tolerated, while Sunnis were treated as enemies.{{cite book |editor1-last=Bosworth |editor1-first=C.E. |editor2-last=Donzel |editor2-first=E. van |editor3-last=Heinrichs |editor3-first=W.P. |editor4-last=Pellat |editor4-first=Ch. |title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Volume VII (Mif-Naz) |date=1998 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-09419-2 |page=1032|title-link=Encyclopaedia of Islam}} The sack of Baghdad put an end to the Abbasid Caliphate.{{cite web |url=https://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/baghdad-sacked-mongols |title=Baghdad Sacked by the Mongols {{!}} History Today|website=historytoday.com |access-date=9 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180910014525/https://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/baghdad-sacked-mongols |archive-date=10 September 2018 |url-status=live}} It has been argued that this marked an end to the Islamic Golden Age and served a blow from which Islamic civilization never fully recovered.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qwuhK3BBH8C&pg=PA215 |title=Challenges of the Muslim World: Present, Future and Past |last1=Cooper |first1=William W. |last2=Yue |first2=Piyu |date=15 February 2008 |publisher=Emerald Group Publishing |isbn=978-0-444-53243-5 |access-date=9 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180909223531/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=3qwuhK3BBH8C&pg=PA215 |archive-date=9 September 2018 |url-status=live}}

File:Timur reconstruction03.jpg sacked the city and spared almost no one]]

At this point, Baghdad was ruled by the Ilkhanate, a breakaway state of the Mongol Empire, ruling from Iran. In August 1393, Baghdad was occupied by the Central Asian Turkic conqueror Timur ("Tamerlane"),{{Citation |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, US |editor1=Michael R.T. Dumper |editor2=Bruce E. Stanley |chapter=Baghdad |title=Cities of the Middle East and North Africa |date=2008}} by marching there in only eight days from Shiraz. Sultan Ahmad Jalayir fled to Syria, where the Mamluk Sultan Barquq protected him and killed Timur's envoys. Timur left the Sarbadar prince Khwaja Mas'ud to govern Baghdad, but he was driven out when Ahmad Jalayir returned.

In 1401, Baghdad was again sacked, by Timur, a Central Asian Turko-Mongol figure.Ian Frazier, [https://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/04/25/050425fa_fact4?currentPage=5 Annals of history: Invaders: Destroying Baghdad] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607053406/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/04/25/050425fa_fact4?currentPage=5 |date=7 June 2011 }}, The New Yorker 25 April 2005. p.5 When his forces took Baghdad, he spared almost no one, and ordered that each of his soldiers bring back two severed human heads.[http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/civilsociety/articles/eav042806.shtml New Book Looks at Old-Style Central Asian Despotism] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090118203132/http://eurasianet.org/departments/civilsociety/articles/eav042806.shtml |date=18 January 2009 }}, EurasiaNet Civil Society, Elizabeth Kiem, 28 April 2006 Baghdad became a provincial capital controlled by the Mongol Jalayirid (1400–1411), Turkic Kara Koyunlu (1411–1469), Turkic Ak Koyunlu (1469–1508), and the Iranian Safavid (1508–1534) dynasties.

{{see also|Baghdad Eyalet|Baghdad Vilayet|History of Baghdad (1831–1917)}}

The Safavids took control of the city in 1509 under the leadership of Shah Ismail I. It remained under Safavid rule until the Ottomans seized it in 1535, but the Safavids regained control in 1624. A massacre occurred when the Shah's army entered the city. It remained under Safavid rule until 1639 when Sultan Murad IV recaptured it in 1638.

In 1534, Baghdad was captured by the Ottoman Empire. Under the Ottomans, Baghdad continued into a period of decline, partially as a result of the enmity between its rulers and Iranian Safavids, which did not accept the Sunni control of the city. Between 1623 and 1638, it returned to Iranian rule before falling back into Ottoman hands. Baghdad has suffered severely from visitations of the plague and cholera,"[https://books.google.com/books?id=F2TGkO7G43oC&pg=PA99 The Fertile Crescent, 1800-1914: a documentary economic history] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504154243/https://books.google.com/books?id=F2TGkO7G43oC&pg=PA99 |date=4 May 2016 }}". Charles Philip Issawi (1988). Oxford University Press US. p.99. {{ISBN|978-0-19-504951-0}} and sometimes two-thirds of its population has been wiped out.Suraiya Faroqhi, Halil İnalcık, Donald Quataert (1997). "[https://books.google.com/books?id=c00jmTrjzAoC&pg=PA651 An economic and social history of the Ottoman Empire] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513231157/https://books.google.com/books?id=c00jmTrjzAoC&pg=PA651 |date=13 May 2016 }}". Cambridge University Press. p.651. {{ISBN|978-0-521-57455-6}} The city became part of an eyalet and then a vilayet.

For a time, Baghdad had been the largest city in the Middle East. The city saw relative revival in the latter part of the 18th century, under Mamluk government. Direct Ottoman rule was reimposed by Ali Rıza Pasha in 1831. From 1851 to 1852 and from 1861 to 1867, Baghdad was governed, under the Ottoman Empire by Mehmed Namık Pasha.Cetinsaya, Gokhan. Ottoman Administration of Iraq, 1890–1908. London and New York: Routledge, 2006. The Nuttall Encyclopedia reports the 1907 population of Baghdad as 185,000.

The city's municipality was established in 1868, and Ibrahim al-Daftari was appointed its first mayor.{{Cite web |title=Nwf.com: الإدارة العثمانية في ولاية بغداد: جميل موسى النجا: كتب |url=https://www.neelwafurat.com/itempage.aspx?id=lbb146642-108021&search=books |access-date=2025-02-15 |website=www.neelwafurat.com}} The year 1869 is of great importance in the history of Baghdad in the Ottoman era, as it was the beginning of what can be considered a distinct era of the Ottoman eras, the foundations of which were laid by Governor Midhat Pasha, who implemented a number of reform systems and laws that the state legislated during the era of reforms and reconstruction, which was called the Tanzimat era. The overall importance of Baghdad to the Ottomans was that they made the headquarters of the Sixth Corps of the Ottoman Army in the city.

By the 19th century, Baghdad emerged as a leading center for Jewish learning.{{Cite news |title=EIGHT YEARSI NASIA AND AFRICAFROM 1846 TO 1855. |url=https://issuu.com/dsegal2k/docs/ben2/260?ff=true |access-date=2018-08-23 |work=issuu}} The city had Jewish population of over 6,000 and had numerous yeshivas. The Jewish population has grown so rapidly that by 1884, there were 30,000 Jews in Baghdad and by 1900, around 50,000, comprising over a quarter of the city's total population. Large-scale Jewish immigration from Kurdistan to Baghdad continued throughout this period. By the mid-19th century, the religious infrastructure of Baghdad grew to include a large yeshiva which trained up to sixty rabbis at time. Religious scholarship flourished in Baghdad, which produced great rabbis, such as Joseph Hayyim ben Eliahu Mazal-Tov, known as the Ben Ish Chai (1834–1909) or Rabbi Abdallah Somekh (1813–1889). During this time, Baghdadi Jews established a successful trade diaspora in China, India and Singapore.

File:Baghdad Eyalet, Ottoman Empire (1609).png|Baghdad Eyalet in 1609

File:Baghdad Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (1900).png|Baghdad Vilayet in 1900

File:Market-Place of Bagdad.jpeg|Souk in Baghdad, 1876

{{see also|Mandate for Mesopotamia|Kingdom of Iraq|Mandatory Iraq|Iraqi Republic (1958-1968)|Ba'athist Iraq}}

File:Baghdad LOC 13186.jpg in 1931]]

Baghdad and southern Iraq remained under Ottoman rule until 1917, when they were captured by the British during World War I. A revolt errupted against the British rule in Iraq.{{Cite news |date=2014-10-06 |title=The 1920s British air bombing campaign in Iraq |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29441383 |access-date=2025-03-23 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}} It was retaliated by air bombing campaigns by the British forces in 1920, where thousands of residents were killed. In 1920, Baghdad became the capital of the Mandatory Iraq under the Mandate of Mesopotamia, with several architectural and planning projects commissioned to reinforce this administration.{{Cite journal |last=Jackson |first=Iain |date=2 April 2016 |title=The architecture of the British Mandate in Iraq: nation-building and state creation |journal=The Journal of Architecture |language=en |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=375–417 |doi=10.1080/13602365.2016.1179662 |issn=1360-2365 |doi-access=free}} After receiving independence in 1932, the city became capital of the new Kingdom of Iraq. During this period, the substantial Jewish community (probably exceeding 100,000 people) comprised between a quarter and a third of the city's population, who were pioneer in trade and commerce.{{cite book |author1=Edmund A. Ghareeb |url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000ghar |title=Historical Dictionary of Iraq |author2=Beth Dougherty |date=18 March 2004 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-6568-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000ghar/page/125 125] |quote=Jews represented 2.5 percent of 'Iraq's population and 25 percent of Baghdad's. |url-access=registration}}{{cite book |title=The Jewish Quarterly |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w75tAAAAMAAJ |volume=42 |year=1995 |publisher=Jewish Literary Trust |page=11 |access-date=2 May 2021 |archive-date=2 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502134253/https://books.google.com/books?id=w75tAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}

On 1 April 1941, members of the "Golden Square" and Rashid Ali al-Gaylani staged a coup in Baghdad and installed a pro-German and pro-Italian government to replace the pro-British government of Regent Abd al-Ilah.{{Cite web |title=On this day 31st May {{!}} Royal Signals Museum |url=https://www.royalsignalsmuseum.co.uk/on-this-day-31st-may/ |access-date=2024-10-03 |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |title=The Nazi March on Baghdad |url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/wwii-the-nazi-march-on-baghdad/ |access-date=2024-10-03 |website=Warfare History Network |language=en-US}} On 31 May, after the resulting Anglo-Iraqi War and after al-Gaylani and his government had fled and the Mayor of Baghdad surrendered to the British and Commonwealth forces. On 1–2 June, during the ensuing power vacuum, Jewish residents were attacked following rumors they had aided the British. In what became known as the Farhud, over 180 Jews were killed, 1,000 injured and hundreds of Jewish properties were ransacked.{{cite book |last=Tsimhoni |first=D. |year=2001 |chapter=The Pogrom (Farhud) against the Jews of Baghdad in 1941 |editor-last=Roth |editor-first=J. K. |editor2-last=Maxwell |editor2-first=E. |editor3-last=Levy |editor3-first=M. |editor4-last=Whitworth |editor4-first=W. |title=Remembering for the Future |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=London |isbn=978-0-333-80486-5}}Martin Gilbert. [https://archive.org/details/atlasofjewishhis00mart The atlas of Jewish history], William Morrow and Company, 1993. pg. 114. {{ISBN|978-0-688-12264-5}}. Between 300 and 400 non-Jewish rioters were killed in the attempt to quell the violence.{{Cite news |last=Kaplan |first=Robert D |date=April 2014 |title=In Defence of Empire |language=en-US |pages=13–15 |work=The Atlantic |type=Print}} Between 1950 and 1951, Jews were targeted in series of bombings.{{Cite web |title=Avi Shlaim says he has 'proof of Zionist involvement' in 1950s attack on Iraqi Jews |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/avi-shlaim-proof-israel-zionist-involvement-iraq-jews-attacks |access-date=2024-12-11 |website=Middle East Eye |language=en}} According to Avi Shlaim, Israel was behind bombings, which is also believed by the majority of the Iraqis.

File:14 July Revolution.jpg

The city's population grew from an estimated 145,000 in 1900 to 580,000 in 1950.This section depends on Levine, 397-402. A development plan came during the reign of King Faisal II. However, the project was ceased, when new the government came to power. On 14 July 1958, members of the Iraqi Army, under Abdul-Karim Qasim, staged a coup to topple the Kingdom of Iraq.{{Cite web |last=bataween |date=2022-08-03 |title=Memories of the 1958 Iraqi revolution – Point of No Return |url=https://www.jewishrefugees.org.uk/2022/08/memories-of-the-1958-iraqi-revolution.html |access-date=2024-12-11 |website=jewishrefugees.org.uk |language=en-GB}} King Faisal, former Prime Minister Nuri al-Said, former Regent Prince Abd al-Ilah, members of the royal family, and others were brutally killed during the coup. Many of the victim's bodies were then dragged through the streets of Baghdad. Qasim adopted new principles to develop the city.{{Cite web |title=The Global Socialist Planning of Baghdad |url=https://jacobin.com/2023/10/socialist-bloc-baghdad-city-planning-poland-miastoprojekt |access-date=2024-12-11 |website=jacobin.com |language=en-US}} New projects such as Al–Thawra and New Baghdad (Baghdad al-Jadeeda) came under his rule.{{cite web |title=Archived copy |url=http://makingmaps.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/bahgdad052.png |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718094851/http://makingmaps.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/bahgdad052.png |archive-date=2011-07-18 |access-date=2010-04-07}} In 1960, Baghdad hosted an international conference with dignitaries from Iran, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, that founded Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).{{Cite web |title=OPEC : OPEC to celebrate its 60th Anniversary in Baghdad on 16 June |url=https://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/press_room/7164.htm |access-date=2024-12-11 |website=opec.org}}

File:Baghdad - Chancery Office Building - 1985 - DPLA - 74b914ebc0dd4678a03ee9b699739660.jpg

During the 1970s, Baghdad experienced a period of prosperity and growth because of a sharp increase in the price of petroleum, which is Iraq's main export. Saddam Hussein had vision of modernizing Baghdad and reviving its Abbasid era legacy, when the city was a global hub of trade and knowledge.{{Cite web |last=Ouroussoff |first=Nicolai |date=2003-12-15 |title=Patron of fear |url=https://www.latimes.com/la-et-ouroussoff15dec15-story.html |access-date=2025-02-28 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} New infrastructure including modern sewerage, water, highway facilities, and airport were built during this period. The master plans of the city in 1967 and 1973 were delivered by the Polish planning office Miastoprojekt-Kraków, mediated by Polservice.Stanek, Łukasz (2020). Architecture in global socialism : Eastern Europe, West Africa, and the Middle East in the Cold War. Princeton. {{ISBN|978-0-691-19455-4}}. Saddam sponsored numerous architectural and artwork events, which attracted some of the world’s popular architects. Museums, government offices, palaces, convention centers and luxurious hotels such as Sheraton Ishtar and Oberoi Babylon were built.{{Cite web |title=New Silk Roads - Azadeh Mashayekhi et al. - Consuming Baghdad |url=https://www.e-flux.com/architecture/new-silk-roads/624665/consuming-baghdad/ |access-date=2025-02-28 |website=e-flux |language=en}} The city had a vibrant modern culture and lifestyle.{{cite web |last1=Iddon |first1=Paul |title=Baghdad's four decades of conflict and strife |url=https://www.newarab.com/analysis/baghdads-four-decades-conflict-and-strife |work=The New Arab}} Baghdad was called as "the Nuremberg of 1930s" and "Las Vegas of the 1980s".

However, the Iran–Iraq War of the 1980s was a difficult time for the city, as money was diverted by Saddam Hussein to the army and thousands of residents were killed.{{Cite web |title=The Iran-Iraq War: The View from Baghdad {{!}} Wilson Center |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/the-iran-iraq-war-the-view-baghdad |access-date=2024-10-03 |website=wilsoncenter.org |language=en}} Iran launched a number of missile attacks against Baghdad in retaliation for the Iraqi Army's continuous bombardments of Tehran's residential districts. Power plants and oil refineries in Baghdad were destroyed by the Iranian forces.{{Cite web |last=Morrison |first=Kenneth |title=The Al Rasheed Hotel: 40 years of an iconic Baghdad landmark |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/11/10/the-al-rasheed-hotel-40-years-of-an-iconic-baghdad-landmark |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2015-11-02 |title=The Iran–Iraq War (Baghdad, October 1980) |url=https://www.cvce.eu/en/obj/the_iran_iraq_war_baghdad_october_1980-en-9ae6866a-6a21-427a-a180-46eae07e207e.html |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=CVCE.EU by UNI.LU |language=en}} In 1981, a nuclear reactor near Baghdad was destroyed in an airstrike by Israel.{{Cite web |title=Peace mission to Baghdad, May 1988 |url=http://www.hanskoechler.com/HK-peace_mission-1988.htm |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=www.hanskoechler.com}} The city was attacked numerous times between 1986 and 1988 by the Iranian forces.{{Cite news |last=Times |first=Special to the New York |date=1986-09-12 |title=Baghdad Area Struck By an Iranian Missile |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/12/world/baghdad-area-struck-by-an-iranian-missile.html |access-date=2025-03-12 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news |last=Dickey |first=Christopher |date=1985-05-29 |title=Iranian Missile Hits Baghdad |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/05/29/iranian-missile-hits-baghdad/658c708f-bae3-49fe-be6c-8e6cf5f15c5c/ |access-date=2025-03-12 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}{{Cite web |last=Archives |first=L. A. Times |date=1988-02-29 |title=Many Killed, Wounded as 2 Iran Missiles Hit Baghdad |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-02-29-mn-285-story.html |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} Iran also fired numerous rockets towards the city, landing dangerously close to Al-Rashid Street and the Jewish Quarter. In 1983, a Non-Alignment Movement summit was proposed to be held in Baghdad.{{Cite web |title=Iraq concedes non-aligned summit - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/08/11/Iraq-concedes-non-aligned-summit/4531397886400/ |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=UPI |language=en}} However, due to security concerns and war situations, the summit was hosted New Delhi.

During the Gulf War, the multinational forces preceded with aerial bombings and airstrikes in Baghdad, which was described as "fireworks".{{Cite web |title=ABC Evening News for 1991-01-17 {{!}} Vanderbilt Television News Archive |url=https://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/programs/131211 |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=tvnews.vanderbilt.edu}}{{Cite news |last=Shales |first=Tom |date=1991-01-18 |title=THE GRIM NEWS FROM BEHIND A MASK |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1991/01/18/the-grim-news-from-behind-a-mask/e5f8eb20-8ffe-4a00-81c6-aa338a07aaca/ |access-date=2025-03-12 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}{{cite book |author=Thabit Abdullah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WeMehH-JadMC&pg=PA82 |title=Dictatorship, Imperialism and Chaos: Iraq Since 1989 |publisher=Zed Books |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-84277-787-9 |page=82}} Air defenses, bridges, communications systems, chemical weapons facilities, tanks and artillery were damaged.{{Cite web |last=Glass |first=Andrew |date=2018-01-17 |title=Bombing of Iraq begins, Jan. 17, 1991 |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/17/shock-and-awe-bombing-of-iraq-begins-jan-17-1991-340599 |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=POLITICO |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=30 Years After the Gulf War, Emad Levy Recounts Iraqi-Jewish Perspective |url=https://en.davar1.co.il/276670/ |access-date=2024-12-11 |website=Davar |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Clarity |first=James F. |date=1991-01-17 |title=WAR IN THE GULF: BAGHDAD; From TV Reporters in Iraq, News an Attack Has Begun |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/17/world/war-in-the-gulf-baghdad-from-tv-reporters-in-iraq-news-an-attack-has-begun.html |access-date=2025-03-12 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} Oil refinery and airport were targeted.{{Cite news |date=1991-01-17 |title=1991: 'Mother of all Battles' begins |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/17/newsid_2530000/2530375.stm |access-date=2025-03-12 |language=en-GB}} On 13 February 1991, an aerial bombing attack in Amiriya killed at least 408 civilians.{{Cite news |date=1991-02-13 |title=1991: US bombers strike civilians in Baghdad |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/13/newsid_2541000/2541107.stm |access-date=2025-03-12 |language=en-GB}}{{cite web |last=Jeenah |first=Na'eem |authorlink=Na'eem Jeenah |date=July 2001 |title=Al-Amariyah – A Graveyard of unwilling martyrs |url=http://naeemjeenah.shams.za.org/amariyah.htm |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080128175408/http://naeemjeenah.shams.za.org/amariyah.htm |archivedate=28 January 2008 |accessdate=6 May 2009}} Shortly after the war ended in 1991, ethnic Kurds and Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq led uprisings against the government. Baghdad was sight of clashes between the Shi'ite rebels and Republican Guard led by Qusay Hussein.{{cite book |author=Thabit Abdullah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WeMehH-JadMC&pg=PA82 |title=Dictatorship, Imperialism and Chaos: Iraq Since 1989 |publisher=Zed Books |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-84277-787-9 |page=82}} Another uprising ocurred in 1999, when Shi'a jurist Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr was assassinated in Najaf.{{cite news |author=David Blair |date=17 December 2002 |title=Attack could be spark for Shia Muslim uprising |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/1416418/Attack-could-be-spark-for-Shia-Muslim-uprising.html |access-date=1 February 2013 |newspaper=The Telegraph}} The Shi'a community accused the government for the assassination. Unrest began as large scale protests took place in Shia neighborhoods of Baghdad, specially Saddam City. The Republican Guard deployed in the district suppressed the demonstration, leaving between 27 and 100 dead. Later, the city was targeted more by the United States and the United Kingdom in 1993, 1996, 1998 and 2001.

The Gulf War and subsequent sanctions on Iraq led decline of Baghdad.{{Cite web |last=Imperialism |first=Anthony ArnoveTopics |date=2000-12-01 |title=Monthly Review {{!}} Iraq Under Siege |url=https://monthlyreview.org/2000/12/01/iraq-under-siege/ |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=Monthly Review |language=en-US}} By the end of the 1990s, the government made improvements in Iraq's economy and infrastructure.{{Cite web |title=CNN.com - A decade after Gulf War, Iraq endures - January 17, 2001 |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/01/17/gulf.war/ |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=edition.cnn.com}} In 2000, a broad initiative came to restore Baghdad's cultural heritage.{{Cite news |last=Whitaker |first=Brian |date=2001-01-03 |title=The great survivor |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jan/03/iraq.brianwhitaker |access-date=2025-03-12 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} Older mosques, churches, mandis and synagogues were restored and other historical structures were rebuilt.{{Cite web |date=2001-06-18 |title=ICRC activities on behalf of Iraqi civilians 2000-2001 - Iraq {{!}} ReliefWeb |url=https://reliefweb.int/report/iraq/icrc-activities-behalf-iraqi-civilians-2000-2001 |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=reliefweb.int |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=CNN.com - A sorry state of affairs - Sep. 27, 2002 |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/09/27/sproject.irq.sanctions/index.html |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=edition.cnn.com}} Saddam Hussein continued his architectural vision, which boosted further after the war.{{Cite news |date=12 December 2001 |title=Baghdad Municipality is preparing to restore al-Rashid Street to its historical status |url=https://www.aljazeera.net/culture/2001/12/12/%d8%a3%d9%85%d8%a7%d9%86%d8%a9-%d8%a8%d8%ba%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%af-%d8%aa%d8%b3%d8%aa%d8%b9%d8%af-%d9%84%d8%a5%d8%b9%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%a9-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%b9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b1%d8%b4%d9%8a%d8%af |work=Al-Jazeera |language=ar}} A large number of presidential palaces, and government symbolic structures were built.{{Cite news |date=12 December 2001 |title=Baghdad Municipality is preparing to restore al-Rashid Street to its historical status |url=https://www.aljazeera.net/culture/2001/12/12/%d8%a3%d9%85%d8%a7%d9%86%d8%a9-%d8%a8%d8%ba%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%af-%d8%aa%d8%b3%d8%aa%d8%b9%d8%af-%d9%84%d8%a5%d8%b9%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%a9-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%b9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b1%d8%b4%d9%8a%d8%af |work=Al-Jazeera |language=ar}} These structures further beautified Baghdad.{{Cite news |date=12 December 2001 |title=Baghdad Municipality is preparing to restore al-Rashid Street to its historical status |url=https://www.aljazeera.net/culture/2001/12/12/%d8%a3%d9%85%d8%a7%d9%86%d8%a9-%d8%a8%d8%ba%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%af-%d8%aa%d8%b3%d8%aa%d8%b9%d8%af-%d9%84%d8%a5%d8%b9%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%a9-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%b9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b1%d8%b4%d9%8a%d8%af |work=Al-Jazeera |language=ar}} As a part of Saddam's Faith Campaign, numerous mosques such as Umm al-Qura Mosque were built.{{Cite news |date=12 December 2001 |title=Baghdad Municipality is preparing to restore al-Rashid Street to its historical status |url=https://www.aljazeera.net/culture/2001/12/12/%d8%a3%d9%85%d8%a7%d9%86%d8%a9-%d8%a8%d8%ba%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%af-%d8%aa%d8%b3%d8%aa%d8%b9%d8%af-%d9%84%d8%a5%d8%b9%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%a9-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%b9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b1%d8%b4%d9%8a%d8%af |work=Al-Jazeera |language=ar}} However, these efforts were interrupted by the war which began in 2003.{{Cite news |date=12 December 2001 |title=Baghdad Municipality is preparing to restore al-Rashid Street to its historical status |url=https://www.aljazeera.net/culture/2001/12/12/%d8%a3%d9%85%d8%a7%d9%86%d8%a9-%d8%a8%d8%ba%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%af-%d8%aa%d8%b3%d8%aa%d8%b9%d8%af-%d9%84%d8%a5%d8%b9%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%a9-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%b9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b1%d8%b4%d9%8a%d8%af |work=Al-Jazeera |language=ar}}File:USMarineTankinBaghdad.jpg

File:USMC-20496.jpg before its toppling, 2003]]

In March 2003, the United States-led coalition invaded Iraq.{{Cite news |last=Tunzelmann |first=Alex von |date=2021-07-08 |title=The toppling of Saddam's statue: how the US military made a myth |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/08/toppling-saddam-hussein-statue-iraq-us-victory-myth |access-date=2024-07-27 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} The coalition forces launched massive aerial assaults. Following the fall of Baghdad on 09 April, the government lost its power. A statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled in Firdous Square, symbolizing the end of his rule. Many of the former government officials were either killed or captured by the forces or locals, while others managed to escape and flee.{{Cite news |last=Wilson |first=Scott |date=2003-05-20 |title=Iraqis Killing Former Baath Party Members |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/05/20/iraqis-killing-former-baath-party-members/23a5fd36-e6eb-4cc6-bec4-87fca79bc571/ |access-date=2025-04-03 |work=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}} After the overthrow the government, the Coalition Provisional Authority was formed.{{Cite web |last=Karon |first=Tony |date=2005-03-29 |title=A Power Vacuum in Iraq? |url=https://time.com/archive/6938882/a-power-vacuum-in-iraq/ |access-date=2025-04-03 |website=TIME |language=en}} It designed new municipal systems and ordered the expulsion of former Ba'ath Party members, that caused a power vacuum.{{Cite news |last=Rubin |first=Alissa J. |date=2015-11-03 |title=Ahmad Chalabi and the Legacy of De-Baathification in Iraq |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/04/world/middleeast/ahmad-chalabi-and-the-legacy-of-de-baathification-in-iraq.html |access-date=2025-04-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} Also two minor riots took place in 2003, on 21 July and 2 October, causing some disturbance in the population.{{Cite news |last=Staff |date=2003-04-12 |title=Chaos in Baghdad |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/apr/12/iraq6 |access-date=2024-10-02 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite news |date=2024-02-24 |title=Riots Erupt as Iraqis Await Payment |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/10/05/riots-erupt-as-iraqis-await-payment/6e577fcd-6250-469a-abee-a9ef478d950e/ |access-date=2024-10-02 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}} Shortly after the invasion and toppling of the government, an anti-coalition insurgancy began, consisting of former government officers and Islamist groups.{{Cite web |title=Iraq’s persistent insurgency |url=https://www.rusi.org/publication/iraq%E2%80%99s-persistent-insurgency |access-date=2025-04-03 |website=www.rusi.orghttps |language=en}}

File:Flickr - The U.S. Army - Helicopter over Baghdad.jpg]]

Two major bombings took place at Jordanian Embassy and Canal Hotel.{{Cite web |title=Institute for the Study of War |url=https://www.understandingwar.org/region/baghdad-city-%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%BA%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AF |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=Institute for the Study of War |language=en}} Religious and ethnic minorities,— Christians, Mandaeans, and Jews, began leaving the city out of fear of being targeted in attacks, as they were subjected to kidnappings, death threats, and violence. Priceless collection of artifacts in the National Museum of Iraq was looted by people and thousands of ancient manuscripts in the National Library were destroyed. Iraqi Film Archive building was bombed.{{Cite news |title=Out of sight: Iraq's TV archive lost to the war |url=https://www.newarab.com/analysis/out-sight-iraqs-tv-archive-lost-war}} The Haifa Street helicopter incident on 12 September gained controversial attraction. On the eve of Ashura on 2 March 2004, one of the deadliest bombing took place in Baghdad, that killed at least 80–100 were killed and injured 200 Shi'a Muslims. In 2005, over 965 people were killed in Al-Aimmah Bridge near Al-Kadhimiya Mosque.{{cite news |date=2005-09-05 |title=Sunni rescuer hailed as Iraq hero |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4214926.stm |access-date=2013-11-09 |publisher=BBC News}} Attempts were made to rescue people, specially from the Sunni district of Adhamiyah, which is today seen as a symbol of unity.{{cite news |date=2005-09-05 |title=Sunni rescuer hailed as Iraq hero |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4214926.stm |access-date=2013-11-09 |publisher=BBC News}}

Coinciding the execution of Saddam Hussein in 2006, violence increased during the civil war between Shi'ite militias and Sunni insurgents.{{Cite web |title=Institute for the Study of War |url=https://www.understandingwar.org/region/baghdad-city-%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%BA%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AF |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=Institute for the Study of War |language=en}} Shi'ite militias were Muqtada as-Sadr’s Jaysh al-Mahdi (JAM) and the Iranian-backed Special Groups and among Sunni insurgents, the largest was Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). Sunni insurgents established their bases Mansour, Adhamiyah and Doura. Mansour district borders the Shi'ite populated Kadhimiyah and East Rasheed. Before 2003, it was home to wealthy Sunnis and Ba’athist officials. Hence, when the regime fell, it quickly became a stronghold for the Sunni insurgency. While Shia militias were based in Sadr City, Kadhimiyah, and West Rasheed, with Bab Al-Sharqi becoming stronghold for the Mahdi Army. Later, they also expanded into the surrounding districts of eastern Baghdad. 9 Nissan, Karadah, and Rusafa were dominated by Shias.

Under Operation Imposing Law (Operation Fardh al-Qanoon), the coalition forces and post-2003 Iraqi Army successfully defeated Al-Qaeda and targeted Shia militias. By 2009, the level of violence decreased. However, violence continued. The period surrounding Provincial Elections was remarkably peaceful. But Baghdad witnessed an uptick in attacks in early April 2009, when a series of suicide bomb and vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attacks were perpetrated across the capital.  The war and subsequent occupation ended in 2011, that caused huge damage to Baghdad's transportation, power, and sanitary infrastructure. It resulted massive civilian causalities, whose number is disputed.

Though the war ended, but an Islamist insurgency lasted until 2013.{{Cite web |title=The March to Baghdad: A Timeline of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq |url=https://teamrwb.org/blog/the-march-to-baghdad-a-timeline-of-the-2003-invasion-of-iraq |access-date=2024-10-03 |website=Team Red, White & Blue |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Institute for the Study of War |url=https://www.understandingwar.org/will-isis-take-baghdad-0 |access-date=2024-10-03 |website=Institute for the Study of War |language=en}} Baghdad experienced anti-government protests by Sunnis during the Arab Spring. It was followed by another war from 2013 to 2017 and a low-level insurgency from 2017, which included suicide bombings in January 2018 and January 2021.{{Cite web |date=21 January 2021 |title=At least 32 killed as first suicide bombing in nearly 2 years rocks Baghdad |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/21/middleeast/iraq-baghdad-explosion-intl/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122065840/https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/21/middleeast/iraq-baghdad-explosion-intl/index.html |archive-date=22 January 2021 |access-date=21 January 2021}} It has been site of clashes between the citizens and the government. The city attracted global media attention on 3 January 2020, when Iranian general Qasem Soleimani was assassinated in a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad Airport.{{Cite news |date=2020-07-09 |title=Qasem Soleimani: US strike on Iran general was unlawful, UN expert says |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53345885 |access-date=2024-10-02 |language=en-GB}} In December 2015, Baghdad was selected by UNESCO as the first Arab city of the center of literary creativity.{{Cite web |title=UNESCO chooses Baghdad as the first Arab city for literary creativity – Union of News Agencies of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation |url=https://una-oic.org/en/culture-and-arts/2015/12/13/7e63d4ee-4ff2-4611-aa32-b4a3ea257972/ |access-date=2024-02-18 |language=en}}

File:Zawra Park landscape.jpeg

File:Bagdad-sat.JPG]]

The city is located on a vast plain bisected by the Tigris river. The Tigris splits Baghdad in half, with the eastern half being called "Risafa" and the Western half known as "Karkh". The land on which the city is built is almost entirely flat and low-lying, being of quaternary alluvial origin due to periodic large flooding of the Tigris river. The Diyala river is a tributary of the Tigris, flowing southeast of the city and bordering its eastern suburbs.

Baghdad is {{Convert|529.8|km|mi}} northwest of Basra, {{Convert|402.9|km|mi}} south of Mosul, {{Convert|366.8|km|mi}} south of Erbil and {{Convert|103.8|km|mi}} northeast of Karbala.{{Cite web |title=Baghdad · Baghdad Governorate, Iraq |url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Baghdad,+Baghdad+Governorate,+Iraq/@33.1458711,44.2274836,41106m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x15577f67a0a74193:0x9deda9d2a3b16f2c!8m2!3d33.315241!4d44.3660671!16zL20vMDFmcW0?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTEyNC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw== |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=Baghdad · Baghdad Governorate, Iraq |language=en}} Located to the south is Mahmoudiyah, which serves as the gateway to Baghdad.

{{wide image|Tigris River in Baghdad (2016).jpg|700px|align-cap=center|Panoramic view of the Tigris as it flows through Baghdad}}

Baghdad has a hot desert climate (Köppen BWh), featuring extremely hot, prolonged, dry summers and mild to cool, slightly wet, short winters. In the summer, from June through August, the average maximum temperature is as high as {{cvt|44|°C|°F|0}} and accompanied by sunshine. Rainfall has been recorded on fewer than half a dozen occasions at this time of year and has never exceeded {{cvt|1|mm|in|2|sp=us}}.{{cite web |url=http://www.knmi.nl/~oldenbor/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711043252/http://www.knmi.nl/~oldenbor/ |url-status=dead |title=Geert Jan van Oldenborgh @ KNMI |date=11 July 2012 |archive-date=11 July 2012 |website=archive.is |access-date=20 May 2019}} Even at night, temperatures in summer are seldom below {{cvt|24|°C|°F}}. Baghdad's record highest temperature of {{cvt|51.8|°C|°F}} was reached on 28 July 2020.{{Cite web |url=https://www.infoclimat.fr/climatologie-mensuelle/40650/juillet/2020/baghdad.html |title=Climatologie mensuelle en juillet 2020 à Baghdad | climatologie depuis 1900 – Infoclimat |website=infoclimat.fr |access-date=28 July 2020 |archive-date=28 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728224224/https://www.infoclimat.fr/climatologie-mensuelle/40650/juillet/2020/baghdad.html |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/07/29/baghdad-iraq-heat-record/ |title=Baghdad Soars to 125 Blistering Degrees, Its Highest Temperature on Record |newspaper=The Washington Post|date=29 July 2020 |access-date=31 July 2020 |last1=Cappucci |first1=Matthew |last2=Salim |first2=Mustafa |language=en-US |archive-date=31 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731032954/https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/07/29/baghdad-iraq-heat-record/ |url-status=live}} Humidity is under 50% in summer, due to Baghdad's distance from both the marshes in southern Iraq and the coasts of the Persian Gulf. Dust storms from the deserts to the west are a normal occurrence during the summer.

Its winter temperatures are those of a hot desert climate. From December through February, Baghdad has maximum temperatures averaging {{cvt|16|to|19|C|F|0}}, with highs possible above {{cvt|21|C|F|0}}. Lows below freezing occur statistically a couple of times per year.{{cite web |url=http://worldweather.wmo.int/en/city.html?cityId=1464 |title=World Weather Information Service |date=26 October 2016 |website=worldweather.wmo.int |access-date=26 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161027054505/http://worldweather.wmo.int/en/city.html?cityId=1464 |archive-date=27 October 2016 |url-status=live}}

Annual rainfall, almost entirely confined to the period from November through March, averages approximately {{cvt|150|mm|in|2}}, but has been as high as {{cvt|338|mm|in|2}} and as low as {{cvt|37|mm|in|2}}. On 11 January 2008, light snow fell across Baghdad for the first time in 100 years.{{cite web |author=(AFP) – 11 January 2008 |url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5huPkYk4bGVvo1Sa1tWeH-tgENiFw |title=Afp.google.com, First snow for 100 years falls on Baghdad |date=11 January 2008 |access-date=27 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100929173506/http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5huPkYk4bGVvo1Sa1tWeH-tgENiFw |archive-date=29 September 2010}} Snowfall was again reported on 11 February 2020, with accumulations across the city.{{cite news |url=https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/1855239/ultra-rare-snowfall-carpets-baghdad |title=Ultra-rare snowfall carpets Baghdad |newspaper=Bangkok Post |date=11 February 2020 |access-date=2020-05-29 }}

{{Weather box

| width = auto

| location = Baghdad (1991-2020)

| metric first = Yes

| single line = Yes

| Jan high C = 16.2

| Feb high C = 19.3

| Mar high C = 24.5

| Apr high C = 30.5

| May high C = 37.1

| Jun high C = 42.2

| Jul high C = 44.7

| Aug high C = 44.5

| Sep high C = 40.3

| Oct high C = 34.0

| Nov high C = 23.9

| Dec high C = 18.0

| Jan mean C = 10.0

| Feb mean C = 12.8

| Mar mean C = 17.5

| Apr mean C = 23.4

| May mean C = 29.5

| Jun mean C = 33.4

| Jul mean C = 35.8

| Aug mean C = 35.3

| Sep mean C = 31.2

| Oct mean C = 25.1

| Nov mean C = 16.5

| Dec mean C = 11.7

| Jan low C = 4.7

| Feb low C = 6.5

| Mar low C = 10.5

| Apr low C = 15.7

| May low C = 21.1

| Jun low C = 24.9

| Jul low C = 26.9

| Aug low C = 26.2

| Sep low C = 22.2

| Oct low C = 17.2

| Nov low C = 10.2

| Dec low C = 6.0

| Jan record high C = 24.8

| Feb record high C = 28.2

| Mar record high C = 36.6

| Apr record high C = 42.0

| May record high C = 46.7

| Jun record high C = 49.6

| Jul record high C = 51.8

| Aug record high C = 50.0

| Sep record high C = 48.4

| Oct record high C = 40.2

| Nov record high C = 35.6

| Dec record high C = 25.3

| year record high C = 51.8

| year high C = 30.6

| year low C = 14.9

| Jan record low C = -11.0

| Feb record low C = -10.0

| Mar record low C = -5.5

| Apr record low C = -0.6

| May record low C = 8.3

| Jun record low C = 14.6

| Jul record low C = 22.4

| Aug record low C = 20.6

| Sep record low C = 15.3

| Oct record low C = 6.2

| Nov record low C = -1.5

| Dec record low C = -8.7

| year record low C = -11.0

| precipitation colour = green

| Jan precipitation mm = 24.6

| Feb precipitation mm = 16.6

| Mar precipitation mm = 15.7

| Apr precipitation mm = 16.2

| May precipitation mm = 3.3

| Jun precipitation mm = 0

| Jul precipitation mm = 0

| Aug precipitation mm = 0

| Sep precipitation mm = 0.1

| Oct precipitation mm = 7.6

| Nov precipitation mm = 23.6

| Dec precipitation mm = 17.0

| unit precipitation days =

| Jan precipitation days = 5

| Feb precipitation days = 5

| Mar precipitation days = 6

| Apr precipitation days = 4

| May precipitation days = 2

| Jun precipitation days = 0

| Jul precipitation days = 0

| Aug precipitation days = 0

| Sep precipitation days = 0

| Oct precipitation days = 1

| Nov precipitation days = 5

| Dec precipitation days = 6

| Jan humidity = 69.1

| Feb humidity = 58.9

| Mar humidity = 48.7

| Apr humidity = 41.1

| May humidity = 31.4

| Jun humidity = 24.4

| Jul humidity = 23.8

| Aug humidity = 25.7

| Sep humidity = 30.9

| Oct humidity = 41.6

| Nov humidity = 57.9

| Dec humidity = 68.0

| Jan sun = 192.2

| Feb sun = 203.4

| Mar sun = 244.9

| Apr sun = 255.0

| May sun = 300.7

| Jun sun = 348.0

| Jul sun = 347.2

| Aug sun = 353.4

| Sep sun = 315.0

| Oct sun = 272.8

| Nov sun = 213.0

| Dec sun = 195.3

| Jan uv = 3

| Feb uv = 4

| Mar uv = 6

| Apr uv = 8

| May uv = 10

| Jun uv = 11

| Jul uv = 11

| Aug uv = 10

| Sep uv = 8

| Oct uv = 6

| Nov uv = 4

| Dec uv = 3

| source 1 = WMO (precipitation days 1976-2008){{cite web

| url = https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/archive/arc0216/0253808/2.2/data/0-data/Region-2-WMO-Normals-9120/Iraq/CSV/BAGHDAD_40650.csv

| title = World Meteorological Organization Climate Normals for 1991–2020: Baghdad |format=CSV

| publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

| access-date = 2 August 2023}}{{cite web |url=http://worldweather.wmo.int/154/c01464.htm |title=World Weather Information Service – Baghdad |publisher=World Meteorological Organization |access-date=20 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625022518/http://worldweather.wmo.int/154/c01464.htm |archive-date=25 June 2013 |url-status=live}}

| source 2 = Climate & Temperature{{cite web |url=http://www.climatetemp.info/iraq/baghdad.html |title=Baghdad Climate Guide to the Average Weather & Temperatures, with Graphs Elucidating Sunshine and Rainfall Data & Information about Wind Speeds & Humidity |access-date=25 December 2011 |publisher=Climate & Temperature |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106135651/http://www.climatetemp.info/iraq/baghdad.html |archive-date=6 January 2012}}{{cite web |url=https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/iraq/baghdad-climate#uv_index |title=Monthly weather forecast and climate for Baghdad, Iraq |access-date=27 April 2020 |archive-date=19 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919180124/https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/iraq/baghdad-climate#uv_index |url-status=live}}

| date = August 2010

}}

{{see also|List of neighborhoods and districts in Baghdad}}

File:Palace in Baghdad.jpg, government preceint ]]

Administratively, Baghdad Governorate is divided into districts which are further divided into sub-districts. Municipally, the governorate is divided into 9 municipalities, which have responsibility for local issues. Regional services, however, are coordinated and carried out by a mayor who oversees the municipalities. The governorate council is responsible for the governorate-wide policy. These official subdivisions of the city served as administrative centers for the delivery of municipal services but until 2003 had no political function. Beginning in April 2003, the U.S—controlled Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) began the process of creating new functions for these. The process initially focused on the election of neighborhood councils in official neighborhoods, elected by neighborhood caucuses. The CPA convened a series of meetings in each neighborhood to explain local government, to describe the caucus election process and to encourage participants to spread the word and bring friends, relatives and neighbors to subsequent meetings.

Each neighborhood process ultimately ended with a final meeting where candidates for the new neighborhood councils identified themselves and asked their neighbors to vote for them. Once all 88 neighborhood councils were in place, each neighborhood council elected representatives from among their members to serve on one of the city's nine district councils. The number of neighborhood representatives on a district council is based upon the neighborhood's population. The next step was to have each of the nine district councils elect representatives from their membership to serve on the 37 member Baghdad City Council. Later, the number of official neighborhoods were increased to 89. This three tier system of local government connected the people of Baghdad to the central government through their representatives from the neighborhood, through the district, and up to the city council. The same process was used to provide representative councils for the other communities in Baghdad Province outside of the city itself. There, local councils were elected from 20 neighborhoods (Nahia) and these councils elected representatives from their members to serve on six district councils (Qada).

As within the city, the district councils then elected representatives from among their members to serve on the 35 member Baghdad Regional Council. The first step in the establishment of the system of local government for Baghdad Province was the election of the Baghdad Provincial Council. As before, the representatives to the Provincial Council were elected by their peers from the lower councils in numbers proportional to the population of the districts they represent. The 41 member Provincial Council took office in February 2004 and served until national elections held in January 2005, when a new Provincial Council was elected. This system of 127 separate councils may seem overly cumbersome; however, Baghdad Province is home to approximately seven million people. At the lowest level, the neighborhood councils, each council represents an average of 75,000 people. The nine District Advisory Councils (DAC) are as follows:{{cite news |title=New troops to move into Iraq |url=http://images.usatoday.com/news/graphics/troop_surge/flash.swf |work=USA Today |access-date=22 April 2007 |archive-date=5 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070605012753/http://images.usatoday.com/news/graphics/troop_surge/flash.swf |url-status=live}}

{{Div col|content=*Adhamiyah

• Karkh (Green Zone){{cite web |url=http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=27637 |title=DefenseLink News Article: Soldier Helps to Form Democracy in Baghdad |publisher=Defenselink.mil |access-date=27 April 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090831135357/http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=27637 |archive-date=31 August 2009 |url-status= live}}
• Karrada{{cite web |url=http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/june2005/a060105la2.html |title=Zafaraniya Residents Get Water Project Update – DefendAmerica News Article |publisher=Defendamerica.mil |access-date=27 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228064722/http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/june2005/a060105la2.html |archive-date=28 December 2008}}{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-03-26-councils-work_x.htm |work=USA Today |title=Basics of democracy in Iraq include frustration |first1=Thomas |last1=Frank |date=26 March 2006 |access-date=26 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515193647/http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-03-26-councils-work_x.htm |archive-date=15 May 2011 |url-status=live}}
• Kadhimiya{{cite web |url=http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/mar2004/a031804d.html |title=DefendAmerica News – Article |publisher=Defendamerica.mil |access-date=27 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081227233739/http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/mar2004/a031804d.html |archive-date=27 December 2008}}
• Mansour
• Sadr City (Thawra){{cite web |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1205/p01s04-woiq.html |title=Democracy from scratch |publisher=csmonitor.com |date=5 December 2003 |access-date=27 April 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100403220914/http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1205/p01s04-woiq.html |archive-date= 3 April 2010 |url-status= live}}
• Al Rashid{{cite web |url=http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/sept2006/a091906dg2.html |title=Leaders Highlight Successes of Baghdad Operation – DefendAmerica News Article |publisher=Defendamerica.mil |access-date=27 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228012249/http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/sept2006/a091906dg2.html |archive-date=28 December 2008}}
• Rusafa
• New Baghdad (Tisaa Nissan) (9 April){{Cite web |url=http://www.kcentv.com/news/c-article.php?cid=5&nid=235 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212142736/http://www.kcentv.com/news/c-article.php?cid=5&nid=235 |title=NBC 6 News – 1st Cav Headlines |archive-date=12 December 2007}}}}The nine districts are subdivided into 89 smaller neighborhoods which may make up sectors of any of the districts above. The following is a selection (rather than a complete list) of these neighborhoods:

{{div col|colwidth=15em}}

• Al-Ghazaliya
• Al-A'amiriya
• Dora
• Karrada
• Al-Jadriya
• Al-Hebnaa
• Zayouna
• Al-Saydiya
• Al-Sa'adoon
• Al-Shu'ala
• Al-Mahmudiyah
• Bab Al-Moatham
• Al-Baya'
• Al-Za'franiya
• Hayy Ur
• Sha'ab
• Hayy Al-Jami'a
• Al-Adel
• Al Khadhraa
• Hayy Al-Jihad
• Hayy Al-A'amel
• Hayy Aoor
• Al-Hurriya
• Haydar-Khana
• Hayy Al-Shurtta
• Yarmouk
• Jesr Diyala
• Abu Disher
• Al-Maidan
• Raghiba Khatoun
• Arab Jibor
• Al-Fathel
• Al-Ubedy
• Al-Washash
• Al-Wazireya
• Bataween

{{div col end}}

File:شارع ابو نؤاس.jpg

{{multiple image

| align = right

| direction = vertical

| width = 220

| image1 =

| caption1 = Abu Nawas street

| image2 = شارع المتنبي صباحا.jpg

| caption2 = Mutanabbi Street

| image3 =

| caption3 = Baghdad Airport Road, as seen from above

}}

• Haifa Street
• Hilla Road – Runs from the north into Baghdad via Yarmouk (Baghdad)
• Caliphs Street – site of historical mosques and churches
• Al-Sa'doun Street – stretching from Liberation Square to Masbah
• Abu Nuwas Street – runs along the Tigris from the Jumhouriya Bridge to 14 July Suspended Bridge
• Damascus Street – goes from Damascus Square to the Baghdad Airport Road
• Mutanabbi Street – A street with numerous bookshops, named after the 10th century Iraqi poet Al-Mutanabbi
• Rabia Street
• 14th July Street (Mosul Road)
• Muthana al-Shaibani Street
• Bor Saeed (Port Said) Street
• Thawra Street
• Al-Qanat Street – runs through Baghdad north-south
• Al-Khat al-Sare'a – Mohammed al-Qasim (high speed lane) – runs through Baghdad, north–south
• Industry Street runs by the University of Technology – center of the computer trade in Baghdad
• Al Nidhal Street
• Al-Rasheed Street – city center Baghdad
• Al-Jumhuriya Street – city center Baghdad
• Falastin Street
• Tariq al-Muaskar – (Al-Rasheed Camp Road)
• Akhrot street
• Baghdad Airport Road{{cite web |url=http://www.dcswift.com/military/ntc/Baghdad%20Tourist%20Map.pdf |title=PowWeb |work=dcswift.com |access-date=14 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429050421/http://www.dcswift.com/military/ntc/Baghdad%20Tourist%20Map.pdf |archive-date=29 April 2014 }}

Baghdad's population was estimated at 7.22 million in 2015. The surrounding metropolitan region's population is estimated to be 10,500,000. It is second largest city in the Arab world, after Cairo and fourth largest metropolitan area in the Middle East after Cairo and Tehran. At the beginning of the 21st century, some 1.5 million people migrated to Baghdad.{{Cite web |title=Baghdad |url=https://euaa.europa.eu/country-guidance-iraq-2021/baghdad |access-date=2023-12-25 |website=European Union Agency for Asylum |language=en}} The 2013–2017 war following the Islamic State's invasion in 2014 caused hundreds of thousands of Iraqi internally displaced people to flee to the city. The city was also home to a large Jewish community and regularly visited by Sikh pilgrims from India.

File:Assyrian Christians from Baghdad.jpg

The vast majority of Baghdad's population are Iraqi Arabs.{{Cite web |title=Iraq – Arabs, Mesopotamia, Tigris-Euphrates |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Iraq/Arabs |access-date=2023-12-25 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en}} Minority ethnic groups include Feyli, Kurdish, Turkmen, Assyrians, Kawliya, Circassians, Mandaeans, and Armenians.{{Cite journal |date=2017-11-06 |title=Faili kurds |url=https://minorityrights.org/minorities/faili-kurds/ |language=en-GB |access-date=2023-12-25 |website=Minority Rights Group}} Baghdad being Iraq's primate city, attracts peeople of several ethnic background from different parts of Iraq to seize oppurtunities for work and education, as well as representatives of these communities in the government predominantly reside in Baghdad.

Around 300,000 Kurds live in Baghdad.{{cite book |last1=Ghassemlou |first1=A. R. |url=https://archive.org/details/peoplewithoutcou00elat |title=A People Without a Country: The Kurds and Kurdistan |date=1993 |publisher=Olive Branch Press |isbn=978-1-56656-114-3 |pages=142–143 |language=en |orig-date=1978}} Among them, about 150,000 are Shi’a mostly of Luri origin.{{Cite journal |date=2023-10-16 |title=Kurds in Iraq |url=https://minorityrights.org/communities/kurds-3/ |language=en}} The main Kurdish neighborhood is situated in central Baghdad, known as the Quarter of Kurds (Akd al–Akrad).{{Cite news |last=Salim |first=Mustafa |last2=El-Ghobashy |first2=Tamer |last3=Kessler |first3=Glenn |last4=Bhattarai |first4=Abha |last5=Ovide |first5=Shira |last6=staff |first6=Washington Post |last7=Blake |first7=Aaron |last8=Vynck |first8=Gerrit De |date=2017-10-31 |title=For Kurds in Baghdad, the failed Kurdish independence bid provokes an identity crisis |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/10/31/for-kurds-in-baghdad-the-failed-kurdish-independence-bid-provokes-an-identity-crisis/ |access-date=2025-04-03 |work=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}} It is itself home to more than 200 Kurdish families that have lived for generations.{{Cite web |title=ERROR |url=https://www.rudaw.net/notfound.html |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=www.rudaw.net}} The pre-war population of Kurds in Baghdad was recorded 500,000. However, their number decreased as violence increased in Baghdad during the wars.

Assyrians began moving to Baghdad by the mid 20th century.{{cite web |title=Archived copy |url=http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC_0001252339/0001252339_0005.gif |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015180905/http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC_0001252339/0001252339_0005.gif |archive-date=October 15, 2012 |access-date=October 31, 2013}} The historic "Assyrian Quarter" of the city – Dora, which boasted a population of 150,000 Assyrians in 2003, made up over 3% of the capital's Assyrian population then.{{Cite news |last=Spencer |first=Richard |date=22 December 2014 |title=Iraq crisis: The last Christians of Dora |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/11307515/Iraq-crisis-The-last-Christians-of-Dora.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413063147/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/11307515/Iraq-crisis-The-last-Christians-of-Dora.html |archive-date=13 April 2018 |access-date=5 April 2018}} The community has been subject to kidnappings, death threats, vandalism, and house burnings by al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups. As of the end of 2014, only 1,500 Assyrians remained in Dora and others in Karrada district. Today most of them live in Karrada in eastern Baghdad and Mansour district in the western Baghdad.

There is a significant community of Iraqi Turkmen in Baghdad, specially in the neighborhoods of Adhamiyah and Ragheba Khatun.{{cite web |date=30 July 2004 |title=Report |url=http://www.turkmen.nl/1A_soitm/G-28-04-R-6.pdf |access-date=19 May 2023 |website=turkmen.nl}}{{cite journal |last=Oğuzlu |first=Tarik H. |year=2004 |title=Endangered community:The Turkoman identity in Iraq |url=http://repository.bilkent.edu.tr/bitstream/11693/49129/1/Endangered_community_the_Turkoman_identity_in_Iraq.pdf |journal=Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs |publisher=Routledge |volume=24 |issue=2 |page=313 |doi=10.1080/1360200042000296681 |s2cid=56385519 |hdl-access=free |hdl=11693/49129}} The surrounding areas of Baghdad is also home to Kawliya community, that traces its roots from India and are predominantly Shi'a and Sunni Muslims.{{cite web |date=16 October 2023 |title=Roma in Iraq |url=https://minorityrights.org/communities/roma-19/#:~:text=Roma%2C%20sometimes%20referred%20to%20as,of%20Baghdad%2C%20Basra%20and%20Mosul}} Although their language is Domari, most of them today speak Arabic.{{cite news |last1=Shadid |first1=Anthony |date=3 April 2004 |title=In a Gypsy Village's Fate, An Image of Iraq's Future |url=http://www.domresearchcenter.com/news/iraq/iraq2.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223112039/http://www.domresearchcenter.com/news/iraq/iraq2.html |archive-date=23 February 2017 |access-date=23 October 2016 |newspaper=The Washington Post}} After the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the community has persecuted by militias and denied recognition.{{Cite web |title=Iraq |url=http://www.nowherepeople.org/iraq |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=NOWHERE PEOPLE |language=en-US}} Baghdad is home to largest community of Circassians in Iraq.{{cite journal |author1=Ahmet Katav |author2=Bilgay Duman |date=November 2012 |title=Iraqi Circassians (Chechens, Dagestanis, Adyghes) |url=http://www.orsam.org.tr/en/enUploads/Article/Files/20121116_134ingtum.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=ORSAM Reports |issue=134 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403142200/http://www.orsam.org.tr/en/enUploads/Article/Files/20121116_134ingtum.pdf |archive-date=3 April 2013 |access-date=15 April 2013}} There is also a Circassian neighborhood in the city.{{cite journal |author1=Ahmet Katav |author2=Bilgay Duman |date=November 2012 |title=Iraqi Circassians (Chechens, Dagestanis, Adyghes) |url=http://www.orsam.org.tr/en/enUploads/Article/Files/20121116_134ingtum.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=ORSAM Reports |issue=134 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403142200/http://www.orsam.org.tr/en/enUploads/Article/Files/20121116_134ingtum.pdf |archive-date=3 April 2013 |access-date=15 April 2013}}

The majority of the citizens are Muslims with minorities of Christians, Yezidis, Jews and Mandeans also present.{{cite web |script-title=ar:البدء بإعمار وتذهيب قبة الإمام الكاظم عليه السلام |url=http://www.aljawadain.org/AKHBAR/news.php?action=view&id=20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090813105330/http://www.aljawadain.org/AKHBAR/news.php?action=view&id=20 |archive-date=13 August 2009 |access-date=27 April 2009 |work=aljawadain.org |language=ae}} There are many religious centers distributed around the city including mosques, churches, synagogues and Mashkhannas cultic huts. The city historically has a predominantly Sunni population, but by the early 21st century around 52% of the city's population were Shi'ites.{{Cite web |title=Baghdad |url=https://euaa.europa.eu/country-guidance-iraq-2021/baghdad |access-date=2023-12-25 |website=European Union Agency for Asylum |language=en}} Sunni Muslims make up 29–34% of Iraq's population and they are still a majority in west and north Iraq. As early as 2003, about 20% of the population of the city was the result of mixed marriages between Shi'ites and Sunnis.{{Cite news |last1=Kamal |first1=Nesrine |date=18 June 2016 |title='Sushi' children defy Sunni-Shia divide |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36528536 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010175830/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36528536 |archive-date=10 October 2018 |access-date=21 July 2018 |publisher=BBC News}} Following the civil war between Sunni and Shia militia groups during the occupation of Iraq, the population of Sunnis significantly decreased as they were pushed out of many neighborhoods. Today majority of the neighborhoods are either entirely Sunni or Shi'ite. While few localities are mixed, such as Yarmouk.

Before the Iraq War in 2003, Baghdad was home to 300,000–800,000 Christians,{{cite book |last1=Walling |first1=Michael G. |title=Iraq Full Circle: From Shock and Awe to the Last Combat Patrol in Baghdad and Beyond |last2=Darron |first2=L. Wright |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2012 |isbn=9781782002826 |pages=168}}{{Cite book |url=http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/9781405166584 |title=The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity |date=2017-09-01 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1-4051-6658-4 |editor-last=Parry |editor-first=Ken |location=Oxford, UK |pages=122–3 |language=en |chapter=Church of the East |doi=10.1002/9781405166584 |orig-year=1999 |editor2-last=Melling |editor2-first=David J. |editor3-last=Brady |editor3-first=Dimitri |editor4-last=Griffith |editor4-first=Sidney H. |editor5-last=Healey |editor5-first=John F.}} primarily concentrated in several neighborhoods with a Christian majority, the most notable being Karrada and Dora, which had around 150,000 Christians.{{cite book |last=Hanoosh |first=Yasmeen |title=The Chaldeans: Politics and Identity in Iraq and the American Diaspora |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2019 |isbn=9781786725967 |page=174}} The Christian community in Baghdad is divided among various denominations, mainly the Chaldean Catholic Church and the Syriac Catholic Church. There is also a significant presence of followers of the Assyrian Church of the East and the Syriac Orthodox Church, along with the largest Armenian Apostolic and Protestant communities in Iraq, which is also located in Baghdad.{{cite book |last=Fisher |first=William B. |title=The Middle East: A Physical, Social and Regional Geography |publisher=Routledge |year=1978 |isbn=978-0-416-71520-0 |location=London |page=363}} The city serves as the headquarters of the Chaldean Catholic Church, with its see located in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows,{{cite web |title=Church of Mary Mother of Sorrows, Baghdad, Iraq (Chaldean) |url=http://www.gcatholic.org/churches/asia/3393.htm |website=gcatholic.org}} while the Ancient Church of the East has its see in the Cathedral of the Virgin. Today about 100,000 Christians remained in Baghdad.{{Cite web |title=Christians in Baghdad close to Extinction |url=https://www.kirkuknow.com/en/news/65368 |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=Kirkuknow |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Nabeel |first=Gilgamesh |title=Christians in Post-2003 Iraq: Fragmentation Dynamics, Ethnic and Sectarian Fault Lines |url=https://eismena.com/en/article/christians-in-post-2003-iraq-fragmentation-dynamics-ethnic-and-sectarian-fault-lines-2023-08-11 |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=cfri-irak.com |language=en}}

Baghdad was once home to one of the most significant Jewish communities in the world.{{Cite web |title=Reclaiming Iraq's Jewish Heritage {{!}} The Washington Institute |url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/reclaiming-iraqs-jewish-heritage |access-date=2024-07-20 |website=washingtoninstitute.org |language=en}} In 1948, the Jewish population numbered approximately 150,000, constituting 33% of the city’s population.{{Cite web |last=Studies |first=Stroum Center for Jewish |date=2021-02-12 |title=The Jews of medieval Iraq and Kurdistan: Surprising insights from Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela's 12th-century geography |url=https://jewishstudies.washington.edu/jewish-history-and-thought/jews-medieval-iraq-kurdistan-benjamin-of-tudela/ |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=UW Stroum Center for Jewish Studies |language=en-US}} Persecution forced most Jews to flee Iraq.{{Cite web |title=Saddam's Iraq {{!}} Journeyman Pictures |url=https://www.journeyman.tv/film_documents/1181/transcript/ |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=journeyman.tv}} Even after 1948, up to 100,000 Jews remained, which decreased.{{Cite news |date=2003-04-15 |title=Now Baghdad's last Jews have some hope |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/now-baghdads-last-jews-have-some-hope/28042122.html |access-date=2024-12-07 |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}} Majority of the country’s 15,000 Jews lived in Baghdad during Saddam Hussein’s rule and their population dwindled, not due to persecution but because of lifted travel restrictions that allowed many to emigrate. By 2003, Iraq still had a Jewish community of about 1,500 people, majority of whom resided in Baghdad. But the population decreased sharply after the war. Today, an estimated 160 Jews live in Baghdad out of spotlight, primarily in the old Jewish quarters of Bataween and Shorja, which was once home to vibrant Jewish community.{{Cite web |title=Once thriving, Iraq's Jews on verge of vanishing |url=https://amwaj.media/article/once-thriving-iraq-s-jews-on-verge-of-vanishing |access-date=2024-07-20 |website=Amwaj.media |language=en}}{{cite web | url=https://www.chaldeannews.com/culture-and-history/2021/6/29/the-jewish-community-of-iraq-history-and-influence | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240722215536/https://www.chaldeannews.com/culture-and-history/2021/6/29/the-jewish-community-of-iraq-history-and-influence | archive-date=22 July 2024 | title=The Jewish Community of Iraq - History and Influence }} The city was historically home to over 60 synagogues, cemeteries, and shrines, many of which were preserved before 2003. However, their condition deteriorated after the war, and only a few sites, such as the Meir Taweig Synagogue and Al-Habibiyah Jewish Cemetery, remain today.{{Cite web |title=ERROR |url=https://www.rudaw.net/notfound.html |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=www.rudaw.net}}

Beyond their traditional homelands, around Amarah and Basra, Mandeans are also found in Baghdad.{{cite web |author=Baghdad Governorate |date=2019-07-20 |title=محافظ بغداد يزور مندى الصابئة المندائية ويهنئهم بالعيد الأكبر |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiipVzPN1oU |access-date=2023-12-13 |via=YouTube}} By the late 20th century, Mandaeans began settling in Baghdad for better opportunities. Most of them live primarily around al-Qadisiyah and Dora, which is location to their place of worship and cultural centers. However, persecution of Mandaeans have been greatly decreased since 2003. There is also a small of community of Baha'is and Sikhs, who live in Baghdad.{{Cite web |date=2013-06-28 |title=Sacred site in Baghdad destroyed {{!}} BWNS |url=https://news.bahai.org/story/961/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131104128/https://news.bahai.org/story/961/ |archive-date=31 January 2022 |access-date=2022-01-31 |website=Bahá'í World News Service |language=en}} The Sikhs are mostly Indians. Before 2003, Baghdad was regularly visited by Sikh pilgrims from India.

File:Al-Kadhimiya Mosque 1.jpg|Al-Kadhimiya Mosque

File:مبنى كنيسة الارمن.jpg|Armenian Orthodox Church of Baghdad

File:Al- Saray Mosque جامع السراي.jpg|Al-Sarrai Mosque

File:Baghdad Synagogue.jpg|Meir Taweig Synagogue in Baghdad

File:مندى ديانة الصابئة المندائية في بغداد 02.jpg|Mandaean Mandi of Baghdad

{{Panorama

| image = File:View on Baghdad 2017.jpg

| height = 150

| caption = View of Central Business district

}}Iraq's primate city, Baghdad serves as the commercial and financial hub, home to 22% of the population, and generating 40% of the Iraq's GDP.{{Cite web |title=The Economic History of Baghdad |url=https://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/baghdad2.htm |access-date=2024-09-26 |website=sjsu.edu}} It connects trade routes between Turkey, Syria, India, and Southeast Asia.{{Cite web |title=Economy of the largest cities of Iraq "Baghdad" – rawabt center |url=https://rawabetcenter.com/en/?p=6609 |access-date=2025-01-31 |website=rawabetcenter.com}} As the capital, it hosts government institutions and state enterprises, key sources of employment. The public education system follows Ba'athist socialist ideologies, for employment in the public sector.{{Cite web |date=2023-10-13 |title=A new era of opportunity is opening up in Iraq with the development of the private sector and the creation of start-ups |url=https://www.equaltimes.org/a-new-era-of-opportunity-is?lang=en |access-date=2025-01-22 |website=Equal Times |language=en}} Since 2003, the public sector has struggled to provide jobs, and the private sector hasn't grown sufficiently, leading companies to hire mainly foreigners.{{Cite web |date=2023-10-13 |title=A new era of opportunity is opening up in Iraq with the development of the private sector and the creation of start-ups |url=https://www.equaltimes.org/a-new-era-of-opportunity-is?lang=en |access-date=2025-01-22 |website=Equal Times |language=en}} To address this, NGOs are establishing incubation centers in the city.{{Cite web |date=2023-10-13 |title=A new era of opportunity is opening up in Iraq with the development of the private sector and the creation of start-ups |url=https://www.equaltimes.org/a-new-era-of-opportunity-is?lang=en |access-date=2024-09-28 |website=Equal Times |language=en}}

File:برج بغداد.png — one of the affluent districts of Baghdad]]

Baghdad serves as headquarters for important companies of Iraq, such as Iraq National Oil Company, State Organization for Marketing of Oil and Iraqi Airways. Baghdad is home to large insurance companies and banks — Central Bank of Iraq, Rafidain Bank, and Rashid Bank and regional headquarters for First Abu Dhabi Bank, Fransabank and Saudi National Bank.{{Cite web |title=Economy of the largest cities of Iraq "Baghdad" – rawabt center |url=https://rawabetcenter.com/en/?p=6609 |access-date=2025-01-22 |website=rawabetcenter.com}} Multinational companies such as Honeywell, Shell, General Electric, SalamAir and Robert Bosch GmbH have established their regional base. Baghdad is also home to Iraq Stock Exchange, that was established in 1992. Most of these establishments are located in Al-Rasheed Street, Karrada and Mansour district.

File:BB6A3667.jpg is visited by millions of people.{{cn|date=February 2025}}]]

It was once one of the main destinations in the region with a wealth of cultural attractions.{{Cite news |date=2022-10-25 |title=Lebanon: Iraqi tourists provide unlikely boost for failing economy |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-63329846 |access-date=2024-06-03 |language=en-GB}} Tourism has diminished due to wars, but in recent years the city has a revival in tourism although still facing challenges.{{Cite web |date=2022-03-27 |title=In a 'dangerous' land: tourists trickle back to Iraq |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220327-in-a-dangerous-land-tourists-trickle-back-to-iraq |access-date=2024-06-03 |website=France 24 |language=en}} There are numerous historic, scientific and artistic museums in Baghdad.{{Cite web |last=Shane |date=2023-06-10 |title=Is it safe to travel to Iraq as a tourist? |url=https://www.rockyroadtravel.com/is-it-safe-to-travel-to-iraq-as-a-tourist/ |access-date=2024-06-03 |website=Rocky Road Travel |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Travers |first=Alannah |title=Mutanabbi Street: An intellectual haven overcomes Iraq's pain |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/3/17/mutannabi-street-slowly-re-emerges-20-years-on-from-iraq-war |access-date=2024-06-03 |publisher=Al Jazeera |language=en}} Religious tourism in Baghdad has grown since 2003, with sites like Al-Kadhimiya Mosque, Abu Hanifa Mosque, Mausoleum of Abdul-Qadir Gilani, and Buratha Mosque attracting visitors from Iran, Pakistan, and India, while non-religious tourists mainly come from Turkey, France, and the United States.{{Cite web |date=2013-04-04 |title=Iraq's holy cities enjoy boom in religious tourism |url=https://english.alarabiya.net/life-style/art-and-culture/2013/04/04/Iraq-s-holy-cities-enjoy-boom-in-religious-tourism |access-date=2025-01-31 |website=Al Arabiya English |language=en}} Around 1 million people visit the city annually for religious purposes. The pilgrims are both Shia and Sunni Muslims.{{Cite news |title=Religious tourism is failing Iraq's economy {{!}} Ahmed Twaij {{!}} AW |url=https://thearabweekly.com/religious-tourism-failing-iraqs-economy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221108173511/https://thearabweekly.com/religious-tourism-failing-iraqs-economy |archive-date=8 November 2022 |access-date=2025-01-31 |work=AW |language=en |url-status=live }}

The city contains the factories of carpets, leather and textiles, workshops, cement and tobacco factories.{{Cite web |date=2024-12-20 |title=Baghdad - Mosques, Palaces, Gardens {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Baghdad/Architecture-and-monuments#ref24875 |access-date=2025-01-31 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}} Industrial areas extend from the city center to outside and suburbs in the metropolitan area, such as Taji and northern Baghdad. Subsequently, it has produced a wide variety of consumer and industrial goods, including processed foods and beverages, clothes, footwear, wood products, furniture, paper and printed material, bricks, chemicals, plastics, electrical equipment, and metal and nonmetallic products. Bismayah, southeast of Baghdad, is home to world's largest precast factory. In agricultural aspect, palm groves are spread in the city, and many of its people depends on the cultivation of many yields.

Baghdad, like other provinces such as Babylon, Karbala and Qadissiya, contains metals such as aluminum, ceramics, nickel, manganese and chromium, whose size is not yet known, being recently discovered by local Iraqi cadres lacking experience and mechanisms to determine the size of these explorations. An oilfield is located in eastern Baghdad.{{Cite web |last=孙汝 |title=Huge oil reserves discovered in central Iraq |url=https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202501/21/WS678f5b34a310a2ab06ea85d0.html |access-date=2025-01-22 |website=www.chinadaily.com.cn}} It was believed that the quantities of oil is modest, but the drilling disclosed that its size exceeds the initial estimates, and has northern extensions in the province of Salah al-Din, and southern province of Wasit. The city is also home to Dora Refinery, a large oil refinery in Dora, which is the 3rd largest in Iraq in terms of production. The production of it exceeds {{convert|200000|oilbbl|m3}} per day, while its total production estimated if it was developed up to {{convert|120,000|oilbbl|m3}} per day.

Most reconstruction efforts have been devoted to the restoration and repair of badly damaged urban infrastructure.{{Cite web |title=ARCADD |url=http://www.arcadd.com/baghdad-cbd.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220055610/http://www.arcadd.com/baghdad-cbd.htm |archive-date=20 December 2008}} Some of the private projects includes Baghdad Renaissance Plan, Sindbad Hotel Complex and Conference Center, and Central Bank of Iraq Tower. Other project proposed includes Romantic Island and Baghdad Gate.{{Cite news |last=Yacoub |first=Sameer |title=Baghdad plans to build giant Ferris wheel |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna26425911 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211141049/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26425911/ |archive-date=11 December 2013 |access-date=27 August 2008 |publisher=NBC News}}{{cite web |year=2010 |title=Baghdad Investment: Creating (1824) housing units in Baghdad. |url=http://www.baghdadgov.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=178:baghdad-investment-createing-of-1824-housing-units-in-baghdad&catid=25:the-project&Itemid=95 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323164726/http://www.baghdadgov.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=178:baghdad-investment-createing-of-1824-housing-units-in-baghdad&catid=25:the-project&Itemid=95 |archive-date=23 March 2010 |access-date=9 July 2010 |work=Baghdad Governorate Website}} Numerous projects have been also impacted due to corruption.{{cite news |last1=Mohammed |first1=Riyadh |last2=Leland |first2=John |date=29 December 2009 |title=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/world/middleeast/30baghdad.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006200141/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/world/middleeast/30baghdad.html |archive-date=6 October 2014 |access-date=5 October 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times}} According to a report published by CNBC, there are around 150 entertainment projects planned for the city.{{Cite web |title=الغد برس {{!}} شبكة |url=https://nabd-com.translate.goog/s/116166814-da4f17/%D8%B4%D8%A8%D9%83%D8%A9-cnbc-%D8%B9%D8%AF%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AD-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82-%D8%AE%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-2022-%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%B9-%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%83%D8%AB%D8%B1-%D9%85%D9%86-3-%D9%85%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%8A%D9%8A%D9%86?_x_tr_sl=ar&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc |access-date=2025-01-22 |website=موقع نبض |language=ar}} Many of them were delayed due to government policies. Also Baghdad has witnessed the opening of dozens of tourist complexes annually with areas reaching {{Convert|20000|m2|acre}} in addition to some major tourism projects with areas exceeding {{Convert|50000|m2|acre}} with the aim of investment combining trade and tourism as a distinctive economic model. In recent years, Baghdad has also adopted modern economic trends like, establishment of startup hubs, office space and incubation center, as well as development of shopping malls such Baghdad Mall and Dijlah Village.{{Cite web |date=2023-10-13 |title=A new era of opportunity is opening up in Iraq with the development of the private sector and the creation of start-ups |url=https://www.equaltimes.org/a-new-era-of-opportunity-is?lang=en |access-date=2024-09-28 |website=Equal Times |language=en}}

File:مجمع الصالحية السكني في بغداد.jpg|link=|Under construction buildings in Karkh

File:فندق بغداد روتانا.jpg|Baghdad Mall and Rotana Hotel in Harthiya, Mansour district

Baghdad lacks substantial public transportation, and taxis are the primary means of transportation in the city. Roads in Baghdad are noted to be especially congested and this began since 2003.{{Cite web |last=Pegasus |title=Public Transport in Baghdad |url=https://www.flypgs.com//en/city-guide/public-transport-in-baghdad |access-date=2023-07-17 |website=flypgs.com |language=en |archive-date=17 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230717172417/https://www.flypgs.com//en/city-guide/public-transport-in-baghdad |url-status=dead }} According to MP Jassim Al-Bukhati in 2021, "Baghdad's roads are designed to accommodate 700,000 cars, while now there are between 2.5 and 3 million cars on them".{{Cite web |date=2021-02-25 |title=العراق: معاناة الازدحام المروري |url=https://web-archive-org.translate.goog/web/20210225054954/https://www.alaraby.co.uk/society/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82-%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B2%D8%AF%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A?_x_tr_sl=ar&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=web-archive-org.translate.goog }}{{Dead link|date=March 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} It is because since 2003, import of car has increased. Since then water transport from river have become a popular mode of transport. Use of boats crossing across the river saves time for travelers to escape congestion.{{Cite web |title=- YouTube |url=https://www-youtube-com.translate.goog/watch?v=M5rT5WO2hwM&_x_tr_sl=ar&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=www-youtube-com.translate.goog}} Private organizations are working to improve transport system.{{Cite web |date=2024-07-10 |title=TransitLab Aims To Transform Public Transport in Baghdad – Iraqi Innovators |url=https://iraqtech.io/how-transitlab-aims-to-transform-public-transport-in-baghdad/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |language=en-GB}}{{Cite journal |last1=Mohamedmeki |first1=Mohammed Zuhair |last2=Al-Mumaiz |first2=Maha |date=2021-02-01 |title=Improving the transportation system in Baghdad city |url= |journal=IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering |volume=1067 |issue=1 |pages=012087 |doi=10.1088/1757-899x/1067/1/012087 |issn=1757-8981|doi-access=free |bibcode=2021MS&E.1067a2087Z }}

File:Iron Bridge, Baghdad with full moon.png at night]]

Among the major bridges connecting Karkh and Rusafa are 14th of July Bridge, Al-Aimmah Bridge and Al-Sarafiya Bridge.{{Cite web |last1=Writer |first1=Staff |last2=Projects |first2=Zawya |title=Iraq to build 19 bridges in Baghdad |url=https://www.zawya.com/en/projects/construction/iraq-to-build-19-bridges-in-baghdad-pd1siuyj |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=zawya.com |language=en}} In 2023, the authorities announced to build 19 bridges in Baghdad. It is a part of its post-war reconstruction efforts, as many bridges were damaged during the war. Streets, avenues and alleys plays an important role in creating network of transport. Al-Sa'doun Street stretches from Liberation Square to Masbah. Abu Nuwas Street runs along the Tigris from the Jumhouriya Bridge to 14 July Suspended Bridge. Damascus Street goes from Damascus Square to the Baghdad Airport Road. Hilla Road runs from the north into Baghdad via Yarmouk. Mutanabbi Street is a street with numerous bookshops, named after the 10th century Iraqi poet Al-Mutanabbi. Caliphs Street is the site of historical mosques and churches.{{Cite web |date=2023-05-27 |title=The Streets of Baghdad |url=https://itchyfeetravels.com/the-streets-of-baghdad/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=ITCHY FEET TRAVELS |language=en}}

Iraqi Airways, the national airline of Iraq, operates out of Baghdad International Airport in Baghdad.{{cite web |url=http://www.aaco.org/airlines_iraqi.asp |title=Iraqi Airways. |access-date=7 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080518015038/http://www.aaco.org/airlines_iraqi.asp |archive-date=18 May 2008 |website=Arab Air Carriers Organization}} The airport was opened by Saddam Hussein in 1982 as Saddam International Airport. It was closed as result of the Gulf War and subsequent embargo.{{Cite web |title=Saddam International Airport/Baghdad International Airport – springerin {{!}} Hefte für Gegenwartskunst |url=https://www.springerin.at/en/2003/2/saddam-international-airportbagdad-international-airport/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=springerin.at}} The airport was reopened in August 2000. The airport adopted its current name after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

{{Main|Baghdad Metro}}

The Baghdad Metro project was first proposed during the 1970s but did not come to fruition due to wars and sanctions. After the Iraq war, Iraqi authorities intended to revive the project, but it was again delayed due to domestic instability.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/18/iraq-baghdad-underground-train-network|title=Baghdad goes underground with $3bn metro plan|work=The Guardian|date=18 November 2008 |last1=Chulov |first1=Martin }} In 2019, it was reported that Korean Hyundai and French Alstom would be building the metro.{{Cite web |author=Staff Writer |last2=Projects |first2=Zawya |title=Iraq approves 2023 budget funds for Baghdad metro |url=https://www.zawya.com/en/projects/construction/iraq-approves-2023-budget-funds-for-baghdad-metro-fzub7skp |access-date=2023-07-17 |website=zawya.com |language=en}} However, the planned construction did not happen.

As of February 2024, the current plan consisted of fully electric and automated (driverless) trains running on an extensive railway network including an underground railway portion as well as an elevated railway. The proposed Baghdad Metro system includes seven main lines with a total length of more than 148 kilometres, 64 metro stations, four workshops and depots for trains, several operations control centers (OCC) and seven main power stations (MPS) with a capacity of 250 mega-watts, and several Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) towers. The metro will be equipped with CCTV and internet as well as USB ports for charging. Special compartments will be allocated for women and children as well as seats for people with special needs, pregnant women, and the elderly. The metro stations will be connected to other public transport networks such as buses and taxis, and 10 parking spaces will be available for commuters. The planned operating speed will be 80–140 km/hour with an estimated 3.25 million riders per day.{{cite web|url=https://investpromo.gov.iq/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/3.-RFI-English-%D9%86%D8%A8%D8%B0%D8%A9-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%88-%D8%A8%D8%BA%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AF-E-20.2.2024.pdf|title=Baghdad Metro Rail Project|publisher=Investpromo.gov.iq}}

In July 2024, it was announced that an international consortium of German French, Spanish, and Turkish companies was awarded $17.5 billion contract to construct Baghdad's metro.{{Cite web |last1=Muhsen |first1=Majda |last2=Projects |first2=Zawya |title=Iraq's Ministry of Transport to include Baghdad Metro in 2023 budget |url=https://metrorailtoday.com/news/iraq-appointed-a-consortium-for-construction-of-175-billion-baghdad-metro-rail-project |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=metrorailtoday.com/}} The consortium includes Alstom, Systra, SNCF, Talgo, Deutsche Bank and SENER. The consortium was then to negotiate the technical, financial and operational details of the project which is now estimated to be completed in May 2029.{{cite web|url=https://www.railwaygazette.com/metros/baghdad-metro-project-consortium-selected/67035.article|title=Baghdad metro project consortium selected|publisher=Railwaygazette}}

The Round City was the core of the city, during the establishment of Baghdad. It ceased to exist, as a result of the Mongolian siege. Urban features such as streets, avenues, alleyways and squares clusters a large number of landmarks, which itself creates an identity of cultural or intellectual hubs and define the beauty of Baghdad.

Al-Rasheed Street is one of the most significant landmarks in Baghdad. Located in al-Rusafa area, the street was an artistic, intellectual and cultural center for many Baghdadis. It also included many prominent theaters and nightclubs such as the Crescent Theatre where Egyptian Singer Umm Kulthum sang during her visit in 1932 as well as the Chakmakji Company that recorded the music of various Arab singers.{{Cite web |last=جواد |first=قحطان جاسم |title=أم كلثوم ونجيب الريحاني وبديعة مصابني قدموا أبرز أعمالهم على مسارحه.. جولة في شارع الرشيد في بغداد في ذكرى تأسيسه |work=الجزيرة نت |url=https://www.aljazeera.net/arts/2021/7/23/%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%b0%d9%83%d8%b1%d9%89-%d8%aa%d8%a3%d8%b3%d9%8a%d8%b3%d9%87-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%b9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b1%d8%b4%d9%8a%d8%af-%d8%a3%d9%8a%d9%82%d9%88%d9%86%d8%a9 |access-date=2023-07-23 |publisher=Al Jazeera |language=ar}} The street also contains famous and well-known landmarks including the ancient Haydar-Khana Mosque as well as numerous well-known cafés such as al-Zahawi Café and the Brazilian Café.{{Cite web |title=الحيدر خانة تتكسر معالمه ووزارة الثقافة تعلّق بإحباط على إعمار محتضن قادة ثورة العشرين! » وكالة بغداد اليوم الاخبارية |url=https://baghdadtoday.news/155095-.html |access-date=2023-07-23 |website=وكالة بغداد اليوم الاخبارية |language=ar}}{{Cite web |title=الگاردينيا – مجلة ثقافية عامة – مقاهي بغداد ... ذاكرة المكان وملتقى الثقافة |url=https://www.algardenia.com/2015-09-17-21-42-52/35437-2018-05-15-08-52-14.html |access-date=2023-07-23 |website=algardenia.com}}

Mutanabbi Street is located near the old quarter of Baghdad; at Al-Rasheed Street. It is the historic center of Baghdadi book-selling, a street filled with bookstores and outdoor book stalls. It was named after the 10th-century classical Iraqi poet Al-Mutanabbi.{{cite news |last=Owles |first=Eric |date=18 December 2008 |title=Then and Now: A New Chapter for Baghdad Book Market |url=http://baghdadbureau.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/18/then-and-now-a-new-chapter-for-baghdad-book-market/?hp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221035319/http://baghdadbureau.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/18/then-and-now-a-new-chapter-for-baghdad-book-market/?hp |archive-date=21 December 2008 |access-date=19 May 2010 |work=The New York Times}} This street is well established for bookselling and has often been referred to as the heart and soul of the Baghdad literacy and intellectual community. Firdos Square is a public open space in Baghdad and the location of two of the best-known hotels, the Palestine Hotel and the Sheraton Ishtar, which are both also the tallest buildings in Baghdad.{{cite news |date=17 December 2006 |title=Iraq: A Guide to the Green Zone |url=http://www.newsweek.com/iraq-guide-green-zone-105823 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127084118/http://www.newsweek.com/iraq-guide-green-zone-105823 |archive-date=27 January 2018 |access-date=27 January 2018 |newspaper=Newsweek}} The square was the site of the statue of Saddam Hussein that was pulled down by the coalition forces in a widely televised event during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Qushla or Qishla is a public square and the historical complex located in al-Rusafa neighborhood at the riverbank of Tigris.[http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/12/al-qushla-iraq-oasis-free-expression-201412287593144958.html Al-Qushla: Iraq's oasis of free expression.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180116193419/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/12/al-qushla-iraq-oasis-free-expression-201412287593144958.html|date=16 January 2018}} Al-Jazeera. Retrieved 16 January 2018. The place and its surroundings is where the historical features and cultural capitals of Baghdad are concentrated, from the Mutanabbi Street, Abbasid-era palace and bridges, Ottoman-era mosques to the Mustansariyah Madrasa. The square developed during the Ottoman era as a military barracks. Today, it is a place where the citizens of Baghdad find leisure such as reading poetry in gazebos. It is characterized by the iconic clock tower which was donated by George V. The entire area is submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Site Tentative list.[https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5880/ 5880] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180104073321/https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5880/|date=4 January 2018}}. UNESCO. Retrieved 16 January 2018.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Saddam Hussein's government spent a lot of money on new monuments, mosques, palaces and hotels.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} The Street is also notable for its architecture and aesthetic which was inspired by Renaissance architecture and also includes the famous Iraqi shanasheel.{{Cite web |date=2017-06-21 |title=عراقٌ انا {{!}} الشـناشـيل ج2 |url=https://iraqonana.com/2017/06/21/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b4%d9%80%d9%86%d8%a7%d8%b4%d9%80%d9%8a%d9%84-%d8%ac2/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230614022127/https://iraqonana.com/2017/06/21/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%80%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B4%D9%80%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%AC2/ |archive-date=14 June 2023 |access-date=2023-07-23 |website=عراقٌ انا |language=ar}}

File:Al-Faw palace on the Victory Base Complex in Baghdad, Iraq.jpg|left]]The National Museum of Iraq whose collection of artifacts was looted during the invasion, and the iconic Hands of Victory arches.{{Cite news |last=Burkeman |first=Oliver |date=2003-04-15 |title=Ancient archive lost in Baghdad library blaze |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/apr/15/education.books |access-date=2024-11-28 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} Multiple political parties are in discussions as to whether the arches should remain as historical monuments or be dismantled. Thousands of ancient manuscripts in the National Library were destroyed under Saddam's command.

Grand Festivities Square is the main square where public celebrations are held and is also the home to three important monuments commemorating Iraqi's fallen soldiers and victories in war; namely Al-Shaheed Monument, the Victory Arch and the Unknown Soldier's Monument.{{citation |last1=Makiya |first1=K. |title=The Monument: Art, Vulgarity, and Responsibility in Saddam Hussein's Iraq |page=29 |last2=Al-Khalilm |first2=S.}} Al-Shaheed Monument, also known as the Martyr's Memorial, is a monument dedicated to the Iraqi soldiers who died in the Iran–Iraq War. However, now it is generally considered by Iraqis to be for all of the martyrs of Iraq, especially those allied with Iran and Syria fighting ISIS, not just of the Iran–Iraq War. The monument was opened in 1983, and was designed by the Iraqi architect Saman Kamal and the Iraqi sculptor and artist Ismail Fatah Al Turk. Though these works symbolize the ruling entity. Neverthelsess, they have remained part of architectural legacy, which beautified Baghdad.

File:6th Muharram 1434, Kadhimiya 05.jpg]]

Masjid Al-Kadhimain is a shrine that is located in the Kādhimayn suburb of Baghdad.{{cite web |script-title=ar:البدء بإعمار وتذهيب قبة الإمام الكاظم عليه السلام |url=http://www.aljawadain.org/AKHBAR/news.php?action=view&id=20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090813105330/http://www.aljawadain.org/AKHBAR/news.php?action=view&id=20 |archive-date=13 August 2009 |access-date=27 April 2009 |work=aljawadain.org |language=ae}}{{cite web |script-title=ar:افتتاحية قبة الامام الجواد عليه السلام |url=http://www.aljawadain.org/AKHBAR/news.php?action=view&id=5 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090813105435/http://www.aljawadain.org/AKHBAR/news.php?action=view&id=5 |archive-date=13 August 2009 |access-date=27 April 2009 |work=aljawadain.org |language=ar}} It contains the tombs of the seventh and ninth Twelver Shi'ite Imams, Musa al-Kadhim and Muhammad at-Taqi respectively, upon whom the title of Kādhimayn ("Two who swallow their anger") was bestowed.{{cite web |title=تاریخچه حرم کاظمین |url=http://kazem.ommolketab.ir/تاريخچه-حرم-كاظمين/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310210746/http://kazem.ommolketab.ir/%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AE%DA%86%D9%87-%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%85-%D9%83%D8%A7%D8%B8%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%86/ |archive-date=10 March 2018 |access-date=15 June 2017 |publisher=kazem.ommolketab.ir |language=fa}} Many Shi'ites travel to the mosque from far away places to commemorate those imams. A'dhamiyyah is a predominantly Sunni area with a Mosque that is associated with the Sunni Imam Abu Hanifa. The name of Al-Aʿẓamiyyah is derived from Abu Hanifa's title, al-Imām al-Aʿẓam (the Great Imam).{{cite book |last1=al-Aadhamy |title=History of the Great Imam mosque and al-Adhamiyah mosques 1 |page=29}}{{cite web |last1=Al Shakir |first1=Osama S. |date=20 October 2013 |title=History of the Moof Abu Hanifa and its school |url=http://abu-hanefa.blogspot.com/2013/10/blog-post_30.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831083952/https://abu-hanefa.blogspot.com/2013/10/blog-post_30.html |archive-date=31 August 2017 |access-date=20 June 2017 |website=Abu Hanifa An-Nu'man Mosque}} (in Arabic)

The historic Jewish quarters of Bataween and Shorja is home to numerous sites that are associated with Jews.{{Cite web |last1=Mahmoud |first1=Sinan |last2=Al-Ameri |first2=Aymen |title=Restoring Al Bataween – a symbol of Baghdad's lost diversity |url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2024/06/21/restoring-al-bataween-a-symbol-of-baghdads-lost-diversity/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=The National |language=en}} These sites were preserved during the Ba'athist regime.{{Cite web |last=Al-Ahmed |first=Zeyad |date=2021-03-11 |title=Iraqi Jews share a deeply rooted heritage |url=https://www.jns.org/iraqi-jews-share-a-deeply-rooted-heritage/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=JNS.org |language=en-US}} However, after 2003, many of them are in poor conditions. Meir Taweig Synagogue is the only active synagogue of Iraq, which have a large compound, that consist of community center, Jewish school and library. Daniel Market (Souq Danial), which was named after Menahem Saleh Daniel, still bears the same name. It is popular for fabrics and shoes. The Great Synagogue of Baghdad, the oldest synagogue of Iraq, is now restored as a museum. Al-Habibiyah Cemetery is the largest Jewish cemetery in Baghdad, home to around 1,000 graves. The Tomb of Joshua, now a Muslim shrine, is believed to be the burial site of Joshua. Shaykh Yitzhak Tomb and Synagogue was preserved until 2003. Today it is neglected. Other sites includes House of Sassoon Eskell and library of Mir Basri.

The Sabian–Mandaean Mandi of Baghdad is a Mandaen temple in al-Qadisiyyah.{{Cite web |title=مندى الصابئة / الصابئة المندائية – بغداد |url=https://www-cese-iq.translate.goog/churchesAndConvents/SabianCon/MandaAlSabaa-Baghdad/MandaAlSabaa-Baghdad.html?_x_tr_sl=ar&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc |access-date=2024-10-02 |website=www-cese-iq.translate.goog}} It is the main community center for Mandaeans in Iraq. Plans are underway to demolish and build a larger one to accommodate more worshippers. A cultural institute for Mandeans is also in Baghdad.{{Cite web |title=المندائيون يحتفلون بافتتاح أول صرح معرفي وثقافي لهم في بغداد |url=https://aawsat-com.translate.goog/home/article/41856?_x_tr_sl=ar&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=Asharq Al-Awsat |language=ar}} The city is home to Baba Nanak Shrine, a sacred site in Sikhism. It was destroyed during the Iraq War in 2003. In the Kadhimiya district of Baghdad, was the house of Baháʼu'lláh, (Prophet Founder of the Baha'i Faith) also known as the "Most Great House" (Bayt-i-A{{okina}}zam) and the "House of God", where Baháʼu'lláh mostly resided from 1853 to 1863. It is considered a holy place and a place of pilgrimage by Baha'is according to their "Most Holy Book".{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Peter |title="Baghdad: the House of Baháʼu'lláh" A concise encyclopedia of the Baháʼí Faith |publisher=Oxford: Oneworld Publications |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-85168-184-6 |location=Oxford |pages=66–67 |language=English}} On 23 June 2013, the house was destroyed under unclear circumstances.

Baghdad Zoo used to be the largest zoological park in the Middle East. Within eight days following the 2003 invasion, however, only 35 of the 650 animals in the facility survived.{{cite news |date=4 September 2007 |title=The Choice, featuring Lawrence Anthony |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/4a456893b10c4c55a2d0fbda730485c5 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010055656/http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/4a456893b10c4c55a2d0fbda730485c5 |archive-date=10 October 2017 |access-date=4 September 2007 |publisher=BBC Radio 4}} This was a result of theft of some animals for human food, and starvation of caged animals that had no food. Conservationist Lawrence Anthony and some of the zoo keepers cared for the animals and fed the carnivores with donkeys they had bought locally.{{cite book |last1=Anthony |first1=Lawrence |url=https://archive.org/details/babylonsarkincre0000anth |title=Babylon's Ark; The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo |author2=Spence Grayham |date=3 June 2007 |publisher=Thomas Dunne Books |isbn=978-0-312-35832-7 |url-access=registration}} Eventually Paul Bremer, Director of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq after the invasion, ordered protection for the zoo and enlisted U.S. engineers to help reopen the facility. Al-Zawraa Park is also part of the zoo, which is main urban park of the city.

File:Inbound3876607660648875635احد ابواب القصر العباسي.jpg|Abbasid Palace

File:بناية المتحف البغدادي.jpg|Baghdadi Museum

File:Iraqi Museum.jpg|Iraq National Museum

File:Al-Zawra'a Park.png|Al-Zawra'a Park

File:Al Salam Palace Iraq.jpg|Al-Salam Palace

File:DJK 8850tm.jpg|Al-Faw Palace

File:تمثال رئيس الوزراء العراقي الأسبق عبد الكريم قاسم في شارع الرشيد بجانب الرصافة من بغداد.jpg|Abd al-Karim Qasim Museum

File:Baghdad International School (school sign at night).jpg]]

The House of Wisdom was a major academy and public center in Baghdad. The Mustansiriya Madrasa was established in 1227 by the Abbasid Caliph al-Mustansir. The name was changed to al-Mustansiriya University in 1963. The University of Baghdad is the largest university in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab world. Prior to the Gulf War, multiple international schools operated in Baghdad, including:

• École française de Bagdad"[http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do;jsessionid=48EBDAFC7537D1AC2D3A91935C198BBD.tpdila11v_2?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000352605&dateTexte= Arrêté du 22 novembre 1990 complétant l'arrêté du 23 août 1990 fixant la liste des établissements d'enseignement prévue à l'article 1er du décret no 90-469 du 31 mai 1990]" ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160410154907/https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do;jsessionid=48EBDAFC7537D1AC2D3A91935C198BBD.tpdila11v_2?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000352605&dateTexte= Archive]). Legislature of France. Retrieved on 12 March 2016.
• Deutsche Schule Bagdad"[http://dipbt.bundestag.de/doc/btd/04/036/0403672.pdf Deutscher Bundestag 4. Wahlperiode Drucksache IV/3672]" ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160312191648/http://dipbt.bundestag.de/doc/btd/04/036/0403672.pdf Archive]). Bundestag (West Germany). 23 June 1965. Retrieved on 12 March 2016. p. 35/51.
• Baghdad Japanese School (バグダッド日本人学校), a nihonjin gakko"[https://web.archive.org/web/19990221170431/http://www.naec.go.jp/kaigai/jmideast.html 中近東の日本人学校一覧]" (). National Education Center (国立教育会館) of Japan. 21 February 1999. Retrieved on 12 March 2016. "バクダッド 休 校 中 " (means "Baghdad School Closed")

• University of Baghdad
• Mustansiriya University
• Iraqi University
• Nahrain University
• Albayan University
• University of Technology, Iraq
• American University of Baghdad
• Al-Turath University College
• Dijlah University College

{{See also|Culture of Iraq|Baghdad Arabic|Café culture of Baghdad}}

File:Iraqi National Orchestra.jpg performing in July 2007]]

File:Iraq-National unity ballet2 600.jpg

File:Assyrian Church.png Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows|left]]

File:Baghdad Convention Center inside.jpg

File:Al-Ma'mun's Telecommunication Center.jpg

Baghdad has always played a significant role in the broader Arab cultural sphere, contributing several significant writers, musicians and visual artists. Famous Arab poets and singers such as Nizar Qabbani, Umm Kulthum, Fairuz, Salah Al-Hamdani, Ilham al-Madfai and others have performed for the city. The dialect of Arabic spoken in Baghdad today differs from that of other large urban centers in Iraq, having features more characteristic of nomadic Arabic dialects (Versteegh, The Arabic Language). It is possible that this was caused by the repopulating of the city with rural residents after the multiple sackings of the late Middle Ages. For poetry written about Baghdad, see Reuven Snir (ed.), Baghdad: The City in Verse (Harvard, 2013).{{cite web |url=https://www.hup.harvard.edu/features/baghdad/ |title=Baghdad: The City in Verse, translated and edited by Reuven Snir |publisher=Harvard University Press |access-date=8 September 2019 |archive-date=19 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190819190324/https://www.hup.harvard.edu/features/baghdad/ |url-status=live}} Baghdad joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a City of Literature in December 2015.{{Cite web |title=Baghdad celebrates selection as UNESCO City of Literature {{!}} Nermeen Mufti |url=https://thearabweekly.com/baghdad-celebrates-selection-unesco-city-literature |access-date=2021-01-25|website=AW|language=en |archive-date=30 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210130145309/https://thearabweekly.com/baghdad-celebrates-selection-unesco-city-literature |url-status=live}}

Some of the important cultural institutions in the city include the National Theater, which was looted during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but efforts are underway to restore the theater.{{Cite web |url=http://csmonitor.com/2003/0716/p01s04b-woiq.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090828071929/http://csmonitor.com/2003/0716/p01s04b-woiq.htm |title=Five women confront a new Iraq | csmonitor.com |website=The Christian Science Monitor |archive-date=28 August 2009}} The live theater industry received a boost during the 1990s, when UN sanctions limited the import of foreign films. As many as 30 movie theaters were reported to have been converted to live stages, producing a wide range of comedies and dramatic productions.{{cite web |url=http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0102-04.htm |title=In Baghdad, Art Thrives As War Hovers |publisher=Commondreams.org |date=2 January 2003 |access-date=27 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100627162352/http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0102-04.htm |archive-date=27 June 2010}} Institutions offering cultural education in Baghdad include The Music and Ballet School of Baghdad and the Institute of Fine Arts Baghdad. The Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra is a government funded symphony orchestra in Baghdad. The INSO plays primarily classical European music, as well as original compositions based on Iraqi and Arab instruments and music. Mandaeans had cultural club in Al-Zawraa, where poetry evenings and cultural seminars were held, attended by poets, writers, artists, officials, and dignitaries of the communities.{{Cite web |title=الگاردينيا – مجلة ثقافية عامة – "الصابئة المندائية عراقيون، منهم العلماء.. والشعراء والمهنيين والصاغة، كيف كانوا واين اصبحوا!؟" |url=https://www.algardenia.com/2014-04-04-19-52-20/fereboaliraq/46580-2020-10-31-16-35-53.html |access-date=2024-12-11 |website=algardenia.com}} There is also a social cultural center of Mandaeans at al-Qadisiyyah. Baghdad Jewish Community Center is located in Al-Rashid Street.{{Cite web |date=2003-04-13 |title=Muslims Rescue Baghdad's Jewish Community Center |url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/230631 |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=Arab News |language=en}}

Baghdad is also home to a number of museums which housed artifacts and relics of ancient civilization; many of these were stolen, and the museums looted, during the widespread chaos immediately after United States forces entered the city.

During occupation of Iraq, AFN Iraq ("Freedom Radio") broadcast news and entertainment within Baghdad, among other locations. There is also a private radio station called "Dijlah" (named after the Arabic word for the Tigris River) that was created in 2004 as Iraq's first independent talk radio station. Radio Dijlah offices, in the Jamia neighborhood of Baghdad, have been attacked on several occasions.{{cite web |url=http://dinarrvnews.net/gunmen-iraq-media-attacked/ |title=Gunmen storm independent radio station in latest attack against media in Iraq |work=International Herald Tribune |date=29 March 2009 |access-date=30 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010060435/http://dinarrvnews.net/gunmen-iraq-media-attacked/ |archive-date=10 October 2017 |url-status=dead}}

{{See also||Sport in Iraq}}

Baghdad is home to some of the most successful football (soccer) teams in Iraq, the biggest being Al-Shorta (Police), Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (Air Force), Al-Zawraa, and Al-Talaba (Students). The largest stadium in Baghdad is Al-Shaab Stadium, which was opened in 1966. In recent years, the capital has seen the building of several football stadiums which are meant be opened in near future. The city has also had a strong tradition of horse racing ever since World War I, known to Baghdadis simply as 'Races'. There are reports of pressures by the Islamists to stop this tradition due to the associated gambling.{{Cite web |last=Thomas |first=Claire |date=2018-02-13 |title=And they're off! Iraqi Kurdistan holds first cash-betting horse race |url=https://english.alaraby.co.uk/opinion/iraqi-kurdistans-first-professional-horse-race-betting |access-date=2021-12-29 |website=english.alaraby.co.uk |language=en |archive-date=29 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211229205823/https://english.alaraby.co.uk/opinion/iraqi-kurdistans-first-professional-horse-race-betting |url-status=live }}

• {{flagicon|EGY}} Cairo, Egypt{{cite web |title=Brotherhood & Friendship Agreements|url=http://www.cairo.gov.eg/en/Pages/agreements.aspx|website=cairo.gov.eg|publisher=Cairo|access-date=2023-03-08}}
• {{flagicon|PRK}} Pyongyang, North Korea{{cite book|last=Corfield|first=Justin|title=Historical Dictionary of Pyongyang|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a46gFDWr3aMC&pg=PA196|year=2013|publisher=Anthem Press|location=London|isbn=978-0-85728-234-7|page=196|chapter=Sister Cities}}
• {{flagicon|IRN}} Tehran, Iran{{cite web |title=گذری بر خواهرخوانده تهران در شرق اروپا|url=https://www.isna.ir/news/96122915736/%DA%AF%D8%B0%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%A8%D8%B1-%D8%AE%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%B1%D8%AE%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AF%D9%87-%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%82-%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%BE%D8%A7|publisher=Iranian Students' News Agency|language=fa|date=2018-03-21|access-date=2023-03-08}}
• {{Flagicon|Jordan}} Amman, Jordan
• {{Flagicon|Syria}} Damascus, Syria
• {{Flagicon|Lebanon}} Beirut, Lebanon

{{Portal|Iraq}}

• Iraqi art
• List of mosques in Baghdad
• List of places in Iraq
• History of the Jews in Baghdad
• Battle of Baghdad (2003)
• [https://hajjumrahtourpackage.com/product/baghdad-ziyarat-tour-package/ Baghdad Ziyarat Tour]

{{reflist|group=note}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Citation |title=Voyages d'Ibn Batoutah |volume=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m-UHAAAAIAAJ |year=1854 |editor-last=Defrémery |editor-first=C. |place=Paris |publisher=Société Asiatic |language=fr, ar |editor-last2=Sanguinetti |editor-first2=B. R.}}
• {{Citation |last=Dunn |first=Ross E. |title=The Adventures of Ibn Battuta |year=2005 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-24385-9 |author-link=Ross E. Dunn}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050525231213/http://fax.libs.uga.edu/ds49x2xm465d/ A Dweller in Mesopotamia], being the adventures of an official artist in the Garden of Eden, by Donald Maxwell, 1921 (a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; DjVu & {{cite web |url=http://fax.libs.uga.edu/DS49x2xM465D/1f/dweller_in_mesopotamia.pdf |title=layered PDF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050906055955/http://fax.libs.uga.edu/DS49x2xM465D/1f/dweller_in_mesopotamia.pdf |archive-date=6 September 2005}} {{small|(7.53 MB)}} format)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050402090804/http://fax.libs.uga.edu/DS49x2xW684B/ By Desert Ways to Baghdad], by Louisa Jebb (Mrs. Roland Wilkins), 1908 (1909 ed) (a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; DjVu & {{cite web |url=http://fax.libs.uga.edu/DS49x2xW684B/1f/desert_ways_to_baghdad.pdf |title=layered PDF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050906060015/http://fax.libs.uga.edu/DS49x2xW684B/1f/desert_ways_to_baghdad.pdf |archive-date=6 September 2005}} {{small|(11.3 MB)}} format)
• [http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13602365.2012.692603#preview/ Miastoprojekt goes abroad: the transfer of architectural labour from socialist Poland to Iraq (1958–1989)] by Lukasz Stanek, The Journal of Architecture, Volume 17, Issue 3, 2012

• Caecilia Pieri, Bagdad, la construction d'une capitale moderne, 1914–1960, Presses de l'Ifpo, 2015, 440 pages, about 800 illustrations (ISBN 978-2-35159-399-8) (ISSN 2225-7578).
• Mina Marefat, Caecilia Pieri, Gilles Ragot, Le Corbusier's Gymnasium in Bagdad, 2014, Éditions du patrimoine, collection Regards (French and English versions), Presses de l'Ifpo (Arabic version) (ISBN 2757703013).
• {{cite book |last=Pieri |first=Caecilia |year=2011 |title=Baghdad Arts Deco: Architectural Brickwork, 1920–1950 |publisher=The American University in Cairo Press |edition=1st |page=160 |isbn=978-977-416-356-2}}
• "Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-135" by Ibn Battuta.
• "Gertrude Bell: The Arabian Diaries, 1913–1914." by Bell Gertrude Lowthian, and O'Brien, Rosemary.
• "Historic Cities of the Islamic World". by Bosworth, Clifford Edmund.
• "Ottoman administration of Iraq, 1890–1908." by Cetinsaya, Gokhan.
• "Naked in Baghdad." by Garrels, Anne, and Lawrence, Vint.
• "A memoir of Major-General Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson." by Rawlinson, George.
• Stanek, Łukasz (2020). Architecture in Global Socialism: Eastern Europe, West Africa, and the Middle East in the Cold War. Princeton. {{ISBN|978-0-691-19455-4}}.

{{Commons}}

{{wikivoyage}}

{{Wiktionary|Baghdad}}

{{EB9 Poster|Baghdad}}

{{EB1911 poster|Bagdad (city)}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20161011182836/http://www.amanatbaghdad.gov.iq/ Amanat/Mayoralty of Baghdad]
• [http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/iraq/baghdadmapb.jpg Map of Baghdad] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090930101151/http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/iraq/baghdadmapb.jpg |date=30 September 2009 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070911122606/http://www.iraqimage.com/pages/browse/Baghdad.html Iraq Image – Baghdad Satellite Observation]
• [http://www.investpromo.gov.iq/ National Commission for Investment in Iraq]
• [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?style=plnews&data=/gmtemp/news/ni000001.sid&title=Baghdad,+2003 Interactive map]
• [http://countrystudies.us/iraq/42.htm Iraq – Urban Society]
• [http://vb.bagdady.com/bagdady551878/ – Baghdad government websites] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022190928/http://vb.bagdady.com/bagdady551878/ |date=22 October 2014 }}
• [https://www.usatoday.com/money/world/2004-03-01-hisham_x.htm Envisioning Reconstruction In Iraq]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060212064817/http://archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.tcl?site_id=7592 Description of the original layout of Baghdad]
• [http://healingiraq.blogspot.com/baghdadethno1.JPG Ethnic and sectarian map of Baghdad – Healingiraq]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060921050720/http://www.tufts.edu/home/feature/?p=ashkouri Man With A Plan: Hisham Ashkouri]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090828185553/http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/iraq/090824/behind-baghdads-9-11 Behind Baghdad's 9/11]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20091219131236/http://www.iauiraq.org/ Iraq Inter-Agency Information & Analysis Unit] Reports, maps and assessments of Iraq from the UN Inter-Agency Information & Analysis Unit
• {{osmrelation-inline|5638803}}

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