Ziggurat of Ur - Iraq

During my employment at Baghdad, Iraq between 1981 and 1983 i have gone round almost whole of Iraq on weekends and holidays along with a group of 9 friends. Each weekend we take the Dyna 3 ton open pickup vehicle and with only three persons in cabin balance of us sit in the open and to make our seating comfortable we use sponge beds and during winters also take our woolen blankets. It was indeed great fun and adventure as most of us were around 24-26 years old. To keep us company we used to take crates of chilled beers during summer and whiskey during winters 

Me with Ziggurat of Ur in background

One such week end we decided to visit a monument near Nasiriyah about  350 kms south of Baghdad known as Ziggurat of Ur  that was built in 21^st Century before Christ in dedication Nanna/Sin - God of Moon , the patron  deity of Sumerians in the city of Ur and it was rebuilt again in 6^th century BCE as it had crumbled to ruins. The building was excavated by an English archeologist in between 1920’s and 1930 and is one of the three  best preserved Neo-Sumerian Ziggurat in the world. The Sumerians called it “Etemenniguru”  which meant Temple whose foundation creates aura.

Reconstructed Ziggurat taken in 2005

The monument was crumbling and under Saddam Hussein in 1980’s a partial reconstruction of the faced was done was done and you can see the reconstructed image taken in 2005 and my Image taken in 1982.

Details and image of reconstructed Ziggurat – Courtesy Wikipedia