U.S. Soldiers Help to Preserve Babylon Ruins

American Forces Press Service ^ | Capt. Stephen C. Short, USA

[SandRat]

HILLAH, Iraq, June 30, 2009 – Soldiers with the 172nd Infantry Brigade are helping documentarians, historians and preservationists as they work to ensure that ancient Iraqi history is preserved and documented in Babil province.

Army 1st Lt. Bryan Kelso stands watch outside a deserted palace built under Saddam Hussein at the Babylon ruins, June 21, 2009. Saddam ordered the construction of the palace on a manmade hill overlooking the ancient city of Babylon, where many projects are under way to enhance tourism in the area. U.S. Army photo by Maj. Mike Feeney  
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

The brigade provides these experts transportation and security as part of their ongoing mission in support of the Babil Provincial Reconstruction Team.

The Babil team hosted the World Monuments Fund to conduct site surveys of Babylon, an ancient city near here. The surveys were conducted to determine the possibility of making the Babylon ruins a sustainable historic and tourism site while protecting the ruins.

The World Monuments Fund is a New York-based nonprofit group dedicated to preserving historic architecture and cultural heritage sites worldwide through field work, education and training. The fund is launching a project with Iraq to preserve the ancient city of Babylon, where King Nebuchadnezzar II -- whose life spanned 630-562 B.C. -- built his hanging gardens, known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

“We are involving the local populace in the solutions to create a sustainable situation,” said Jeff Allen, the project team leader. “What you don’t want to do is develop something that outsiders are just going to profit from. You want something where the local populace benefits from it.”

“Future tourism will be one of the tools for economic development in Iraq, and we fear that Babylon could be eaten up by unmanaged development like the paving of roads,” World Monuments President Bonnie Burnham said at the beginning of the project. “The city has never been mapped, and there have been very dramatic changes to it.”

Soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, make it possible for civilians working with the team and the U.S. State Department to go to sites throughout Babil province and do their work safely.

Gwendolen Cates, an independent filmmaker, is making a documentary called “Mourning in the Garden of Eden” to illustrate Babylon’s historical significance.

“I am making a documentary of the cultural heritage of Iraq and connecting the past to the present and how that relates to us,” said Cates, of New York, who started the project in 2003 when she served as an embedded photojournalist with U.S. Army military intelligence in Iraq. “Iraq has a lot of diversity and many Americans do not know about Babylon and where it is. Bringing tourism back to Iraq is one of the main purposes of this project.”

Samir Sumaidaie, Iraq’s ambassador to the United States, said Iraqis welcome outside help in preserving their history.

“Iraqi heritage belongs to all humanity,”, he said in a statement. “In the immense task of caring for its world heritage, Iraq welcomes help from and collaborations with the international preservation community.”

(Army Capt. Stephen C. Short serves with the 172nd Infantry Brigade’s public affairs office.)

Related Sites:
Multinational Corps Iraq

A hilltop view of the ancient city of Babylon, where King Nebuchadnezzar II built his hanging gardens, known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. U.S. Army photo by Maj. Mike Feeney   Download screen-resolution    Download high-resolution

[SandRat]

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[huldah1776]

Great Biblical significance. Interesting. Thanks!

[Redcitizen]

Why preserve ruins? Aren’t they meant to be ruined? Otherwise they would be called preserves.

[shadeaud]

Sometimes it’s a message from God to save history.

[12Gauge687]

As an architect, I am often amazed at the engineering and beauty of ancient architecture. Certainly, this site along with the Acropolis by the Greeks and the Pantheon, Coliseum and the aqueducts by the Romans speak to the creativity those societies. In later centuries, the temples at Angkor Wat (Cambodia) and Borobodur (Java, Indonesia) were herculean tasks as well.

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Note: this topic is from June 30, 2009. Thanks SandRat. Blast from the Past, but I'm pinging it anyway. Time to refresh the memory. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[Grizzled Bear]

According to some translations of Isaiah 13, demons dance in Babylon.

[bigheadfred]

demons dance in Babylon

Prolly used to. Till the freak show moved to town.

[SunkenCiv]

There we go...