Activities of the Institute of Archaeological
Sciences
and of the Centre for the Restoration of Monuments
in Baghdad
‘Anah
Project: Study of the ‘Anah site and photogrammetric survey
of the minaret
Site: ‘Anah
Director: Roberto Parapetti
An agricultural centre on the Euphrates, along one of the main roads connecting central Mesopotamia and Syria since antiquity, approximately 300 km northwest of Baghdad, the site, until recent years located almost completely on the river’s right bank, in the 17th century, the time of its greatest expansion, occupied a large river island and the two riverbanks for at least seven miles, made fertile by the numerous norias that raised water from the river to irrigate the fields. The site, frequented at least since the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C., is mentioned in Assyrian texts of the 9th century B.C. with the name of Hanat. From the 1st century B.C., the Euphrates valley marked the border between the Roman and Parthian empires and was contended between the two. In 1978 the city was destined to be submerged by the water basin planned along the Euphrates.
The Medieval settlement of ‘Anah is known for the beautiful minaret of its main mosque, at the centre of the island, dating back to the 11th century, a rare example of Seljukid architecture in Iraq.
The minaret, 24 m tall and with an octagonal cross section on a square
base, became the symbol of the city and Iraq’s central authorities decided, upon its previous dismantlement into transportable sections, to move it to the site of New ‘Anah, a few kilometres upstream. Unfortunately the minaret was bombed in 2004. The monument’s photogrammetric survey and the documentation of the island’s traditional architecture were performed by the Institutes of Baghdad.