Cool and Unusual Things to Do in Baghdad - Atlas Obscura

Unusual Attractions in Baghdad

Saddam Hussein's Blood Quran

A 605-page Quran penned in the blood of a dictator is locked away in a mosque.

Baghdad Battery in the National Museum of Iraq

A 2200 year old vessel may have been able to keep a charge.

Al-Shaheed Monument

A giant bisected onion dome remembers the Iraqis who died in the Iran-Iraq War.

Victory Over America Palace

This former monument to an invented Iraqi victory was turned into a military camp during the subsequent invasion.

Are we missing something unusual in Baghdad?

Taq Kasra

This remnant of an ancient Persian city is considered to be the world's largest single-span brick vault arch.

19 miles from Baghdad

Want to see fewer ads? Become a Member.

Explore Baghdad, Iraq

Launch Map

Baghdad Leaderboard

Places Added

Join the Ranks!

Add an unusual place to Baghdad.

Places Edited

Places Visited

Recent Baghdad Activity

ERuler39 wants to go to Baghdad Battery in the National Museum of Iraq

WanderingAtlas wants to go to Saddam Hussein's Blood Quran

redaly wants to go to Baghdad Battery in the National Museum of Iraq

smetz1081 has been to Al-Shaheed Monument

matthewswaller27 wants to go to Victory Over America Palace

Stories About Baghdad

This silicone doll plays a central role in <em>Hanging Gardens</em>.

A New Generation Is Remaking Iraqi Cinema

“If we can’t make the revolution on the streets … we can make it in cinema, sending a message, spreading our vision of the world.”

by Laura Silvia Battaglia

A drawing depicting a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, by Johannes Kepler, December 1603.

Astrologers Were the Quants of the Ancient World

Coincidence and correlation in the stars, from the founding of Baghdad to the New York Yankees to COVID-19.

by Alexander Boxer

Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun was a renowned supporter of the sciences.

3 Brothers From Baghdad and Their Remarkable 9th-Century Book of Inventions

A prescient relic of the Islamic Golden Age.

A group preparing a noonday meal in the 16th century.

In Medieval Baghdad, Rulers Held Elite Cook-Offs

The "Iron Chef of medieval times" could have serious consequences.

January 30, 2019

The folio of al-Warrāq's manuscript.

The 10th-Century Baghdad Cookbook That’s a Poetic Tome to Food

The text features exhaustive directions for cooking, eating, and being.

October 3, 2018

Want to see fewer ads? Become a Member.