Samarra | سامَرّاء Archaeological City, Iraq

Postcard

Sāmarrā is a city in Iraq, located on the east bank of the Tigris, 125 km north of Baghdad. Once it was one of the largest cities of ancient times. Today Samarra has one of  the largest archaeological sites in the world.

The postcard pictures the Mosque of al-Mutawakkil. Built in 849 and for a long time it was the largest mosque of the Islamic world. It continued to be used until the end of the 11th century.

Stamp

In 2013 Iraq issued a set of four stamps about camels.

Thx Ahmed!

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Imam Ali Mosque | حرم الإمام علي in Najaf, Iraq

Postcard

The city of Najaf is located 161 km south of Baghdad. It is a site of great religious significance to Muslims being home of the sacred shrine of Imam Ali, cousin and son-in-law of Prophet Mohamed.

It was in nearby Kufa in 661 that Imam Ali, the son-in-law and cousin of the Prophet Mohamed, was badly wounded by an assassin and, as he lay dying, instructed his followers to strap his body to the back of a camel and, where the camel stopped, to dig his grave. On this spot grew up the shrine city of Najaf, a place of pilgrimage for the Shia.

Stamp

Issued in 2012 as part of a set of four stamps picturing falcons.

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A postcard from Iraq: ancient ruins of Hatra

Postcard

Hatra ruined city located in the Al-Jazīrah region of present-day northern Iraq. It is an ancient Arab city about 80 km to the south west of Mosul and 290 km north west of Baghdad.  A religious and trading centre of the Parthian empire, it flourished during the 1st and 2nd centuries BC. The city survived several invasions before being razed in ad 241. It is an important archaeological site with well-preserved ruins.

Stamp

A matching stamp. Lying at the heart of the city is Hatra’s Great Temple, part of a larger temple complex, dedicated to a number of gods among them: Nergal (Akkadian), Hermes (Greek) and, the principal one, the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash.

THX Milad!

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