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During the 1970's and 1980's money from oil revenues was allocated to building of new monuments in Baghdad. Saddam Hussein laid out new ceremonial avenues and ordered large monuments raised at the city's major intersections. He has built two victory arches in the capital, an unknown soldier's tomb, a martyrs' memorial and dozens of small statues and fountains. An amusement park is located at the martyr's memorial, a playground is next to the triumphal arches, and a theater is located within the complex of the triumphal arches. According to Kanan Makiya [writing under the pen name Samir Al-Khalil], author of The Monument: Art, Vulgarity and Responsibility in Iraq (1991), many of Iraq's war memorials were commissioned before the supposed victories they celebrate were even declared.
Originally posted by alexg
That "strange building" is the Monument of the Unknown Soldier.
It's one of many monuments erected in memory of the Iran-Iraq war.
And I can't say I'll ever be surprised by the architecture in a place like Iraq. It is Iraq, after all.
[edit on 9-3-2007 by alexg]