Kurdish History Journal
Articles filed under Kurdish History and Resilience.
Sami Abdul Rahman Park, the largest park in the Kurdistan Region — a vast green oasis of lakes and gardens in Erbil, built on a former regime military base and named for a Kurdish leader killed in 2004.
Read article →The Kurdish Textile and Cultural Museum on the Citadel of Erbil — founded in 2004, holding carpets, kilims, costumes, and crafts, and preserving the weaving and natural-dyeing traditions of Kurdistan.
Read article →The Jalil Khayat Mosque in Erbil, the largest mosque in the city — a grand modern house of prayer of cascading domes and twin minarets, completed in 2007 and a landmark of the Kurdish capital of Hewlêr.
Read article →The Qaysari Bazaar of Erbil — the historic covered market of roofed alleys below the ancient Citadel, established centuries ago and still the bustling commercial heart of the Kurdish capital of Hewlêr.
Read article →The Sulaymaniyah (Slemani) Museum — the second-largest museum in Iraq and the great archaeological museum of the Kurdistan Region, holding collections from Zagros prehistory through the Mesopotamian, Sasanian, and Islamic ages.
Read article →Amna Suraka, the “Red Security” museum in Sulaymaniyah — a former Ba’athist security headquarters and prison, now a memorial to the Anfal campaign, Halabja, and the endurance of the Kurdish people.
Read article →Mar Petyun, the historic Chaldean church of Diyarbakır — the city’s only Chaldean church, in the old walled quarter near Surp Giragos, a witness to the multi-faith heritage of Amed.
Read article →The Khosro Abad Mansion in Sanandaj, the Qajar-era palace of the Ardalan dynasty that ruled Kurdistan — built around 1808, tied to the poet Mastoureh Ardalan, now a museum and heritage treasure.
Read article →The Dar ul-Ihsan Mosque, the Jameh (Friday) mosque of Sanandaj — a Qajar-era masterpiece of courtyard, twin minarets, and Persian tilework at the heart of the Kurdish capital of Rojhelat.
Read article →Surp Giragos in Diyarbakır, once the largest Armenian church in the Middle East — a monument to the Armenian presence in Amed, damaged in the 20th century and restored, a symbol of memory and endurance.
Read article →The Ahlat Seljuk cemetery on Lake Van — a vast medieval graveyard of thousands of monumental carved gravestones in red volcanic stone, with domed kümbet tombs, one of the largest of its kind.
Read article →The Behram Pasha Mosque, a 16th-century Ottoman mosque in old Diyarbakır — built of banded black and white stone, associated with the architect Sinan, the largest classical Ottoman mosque in the city.
Read article →The Four-Legged Minaret of the Sheikh Matar Mosque in Diyarbakır — a unique minaret raised on four stone columns in the old walled city, dating to around 1500 and rich in local legend.
Read article →The Zinciriye (Sultan Îsa) Medrese of Mardin, a late-14th-century Artuqid religious college — famed for its carved portal and fluted domes high above the Mesopotamian plain.
Read article →The Kasımiye Medrese of Mardin, a 15th-century religious college — famed for its domes, arcaded courtyard, and paradise water channel, a masterpiece of the city’s renowned stone-carving.
Read article →Hoşap Castle, the dramatic 17th-century fortress near Van — built in 1643 by the Kurdish Mahmudi prince Sarı Süleyman, a splendid monument of the age of the Kurdish emirates.
Read article →Shanidar Cave, the famous prehistoric site in the Bradost mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan — where Neanderthal remains and the ‘flower burial’ reshaped our understanding of these ancient humans.
Read article →Bekhal, a famous spring-fed waterfall in the mountains near Rawandiz in Iraqi Kurdistan — flowing year-round, with cafes built over the rushing water, one of the region’s favourite summer retreats.
Read article →Gali Ali Beg, the most famous waterfall in Iraqi Kurdistan — a cascade in the Rawanduz gorge country near Rawandiz, once pictured on the Iraqi banknote and a beloved natural icon of the region.
Read article →Saint Thaddeus Monastery, the Qara Kelisa or Black Church, an ancient Armenian monastery in north-western Iran — a UNESCO pilgrimage site and part of the multi-faith heritage of the wider region.
Read article →Sherwana Castle, the historic Jaff-dynasty castle at Kalar in Iraqi Kurdistan — a rare surviving Kurdish princely residence of the Garmian region, now restored as a museum.
Read article →The Kirkuk Citadel, the ancient settlement mound at the heart of Kirkuk — inhabited for thousands of years above the Khasa river, the historic soul of a multi-ethnic city in northern Iraq.
Read article →The Halabja Monument, the memorial in Halabja to the thousands of Kurdish civilians killed in the 1988 chemical attack — a place of mourning, remembrance, and resilience.
Read article →Korek Mountain, the high peak and cable-car resort above the Rawanduz gorge in Iraqi Kurdistan — snow-capped in winter, cool in summer, and one of the region’s most popular destinations.
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