In the absence of the budget to restore it and with the high real estate prices

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[size=52]In the absence of the budget to restore it and with the high real estate prices[/size]

[size=48]Ancient houses in Baghdad are crumbling: “Beware, the danger of collapse”[/size]
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[size=45]Decades of political turmoil and neglect have cast a shadow over buildings that are part of the city's architectural past. Reuters[/size]

A Baghdad - Reuters
Date: October 08 2022
[size=45]A 100-year-old Iraqi palace overlooking the Tigris River in Baghdad stands in a state of disrepair. A sign near the door warns visitors, who hope to catch a glimpse of its fading glory, that reads, "Beware, danger of collapse."[/size]

[size=45]The 16-room building once featured braided windows, delicate carvings, a balcony, and an inner courtyard filled with fruit trees.[/size]
[size=45]Now, like many of Baghdad's 2,500 remaining historic homes, it is falling apart. Decades of political turmoil, neglect, rising property prices and a lack of money have cast a shadow over the buildings that are part of the city's architectural past.[/size]
[size=45]"One of the most important remaining heritage houses is a large house dating back to the 1920s," said Zikra Sarsam, a founding member of the Babel Tower Initiative, which works to preserve the cultural heritage of the Iraqi capital. It is an old Baghdadi style, with an inner courtyard and a skylight, and the upper floor is built of wood, many of its parts have fallen.”[/size]
[size=45]Fayez Faleh al-Qasd, one of the owners of the house and a civil engineer and consultant, said the house, which was built nearly a century ago, has been in disrepair for years.[/size]
[size=45]He added that the area where the house is located was chosen to be the site of an opera house during the era of former President Saddam Hussein until 2015. No renovations to the house were allowed at that time, but the opera house was never built.[/size]
[size=45]He added from his home in neighboring Jordan, where he kept old pieces of furniture recovered from the house in Baghdad, that it is now too late to renovate.[/size]
[size=45]He stated, "At the present time, it is clear that it has become corroded ... by 1920, especially within 100 years, and what has become of maintenance, all iron has corroded."[/size]
[size=45]He added, "It represents a sweet memory, but with the passage of time, you learned that the house is falling due to the erosion of wood and corroded iron. Unfortunately, any restoration case will bring down the house."[/size]
[size=45]From her home next door to the historic Al Qasd House, Sarsam is working to raise awareness of the need to preserve Old Baghdad.[/size]
[size=45]Owners of listed buildings are not allowed to demolish them. The government can provide loans or grants for renewals if necessary. But Sarsam said the government is not currently complying with this.[/size]
[size=45]And she added, “The ministry does not implement the law in all its clauses by paying home owners so that they can rehabilitate and preserve them.” These houses and the claim that they fell from themselves without interference due to the circumstances of time and age.”[/size]
[size=45]Muhammad al-Rubaie, head of media and public relations in the Baghdad municipality, said that there is no budget allocated to support the owners, expressing his regret for that.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Rubaie added that to circumvent the ban on demolishing listed buildings, their owners sometimes flood them with water or set them on fire.[/size]
[size=45]He stated that the motive is clear, which is to profit from selling the land in order to build buildings on it in light of the high real estate prices in Baghdad.[/size]
[size=45]With the help of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the government last year renovated Al-Mutanabbi Street, a Baghdad landmark teeming with booksellers and artists. But the nearby residential alleys are full of dilapidated houses and shanasheel (mashrabiyas), traditional balconies decorated with woodwork.[/size]
[size=45]The relative stability that Baghdad witnessed in recent years and the recovery of oil prices after the outbreak of the “Covid-19” pandemic in 2020 were positive factors for the city’s real estate market. Sarsam sometimes receives phone calls from neighbors worried about a possible demolition of the house, causing them to rush to the site.[/size]
[size=45]As she walked past the ruins of a 1930s palace on Baghdad's Abu Nuwas Street, which runs along the eastern bank of the Tigris River, Sarsam pointed to the effects of a fire staining its crumbling interior walls.[/size]
[size=45]She said, "It is clear that he is exposed to fire, because they called us, and they said in flashing in this house, what has fallen from himself is certain in the process of flashing." She contacted the authorities who prevented the demolition and cordoned off the palace, but his fate remains a mystery.[/size]
[size=45]And she continued, "A few of these houses have columns and certain inscriptions that are classified as first-class in terms of heritage houses, so this constitutes a great loss for sure for future generations who will come to meet their city devoid of any teacher who classifies its identity and documents its history."[/size]
[size=45] Some homeowners burn or demolish them to take advantage of the big profits if they sell the land.[/size]
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