Baghdad's Street of Gold Is Busy Again

NYTIMES ^ | 12/22/03 | EDWARD WONG

[Pikamax]

December 22, 2003 Baghdad's Street of Gold Is Busy Again By EDWARD WONG

AGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 21 — All that glitters in this city lies along Sharia al-Nahar.

On this narrow street, dozens of shop windows display everything gold: wedding bands, earrings, bracelets, miniature Korans, pendants with the name Allah inscribed on them. Shops ring with the music of hammer on anvil. Guards with AK-47's sit nearby.

The district, one of the most venerable gold markets in the Middle East, is best approached by crossing the palm-lined Tigris River to its east bank, for the surrounding streets are closed to most vehicles, donkey carts being an exception. This is as close as modern Baghdad gets to the mythical metropolis of "The Arabian Nights." It echoes to the urban symphonies of ancient Islamic cities, one of the few areas not razed and reconstructed in the concrete-heavy style of totalitarian chic.

At the height of Baghdad's glory, under the eighth-century rule of Haroun al-Rashid and the Abbasid caliphate, the sprawling street markets teemed with traders from across Europe and Asia, with gold — then as now — one of the prized commodities.

The ebb and flow of the trade at Sharia al-Nahar, or River Street, has always served as a barometer of the fortunes of Iraq and its people. The last half year has been no exception. For several months, as life for some middle-class Iraqis has improved, business has been on the rise.

Shopkeepers, many members of a southern religious sect called the Sabiah, or Mandaens, say monthly profits have increased by as much as three times over what they were before American-led forces ousted Saddam Hussein's government in April.