Kurdish History Journal
The Paikuli Tower of the Sasanian king Narseh, c. 293 CE, in the mountains south of Sulaymaniyah — a ruined royal monument bearing one of the great bilingual inscriptions of the ancient world, its blocks now in the Slemani Museum.
Read article →Mount Piramagrun, the most recognisable massif near Sulaymaniyah — a towering Zagros peak of about 2,600 metres with villages, caves, and the ancient Parthian fortress of Rabana-Merquly on its flanks.
Read article →The Naram-Sin rock relief at Darband-i-Gawr on Qaradagh Mountain near Sulaymaniyah — an Akkadian-era carving of a victorious ruler from the 3rd millennium BCE, among the oldest monuments of the Kurdish mountains.
Read article →Mount Azmar, a high ridge rising over Sulaymaniyah beside Mount Goizha — part of the ring of mountains around the Kurdish cultural capital, offering wide views, with a sober legacy of mines on some slopes.
Read article →The Ahmad Awa waterfall in the Hawraman highlands east of Halabja — a cascade fed by the Zalm River in a green mountain valley near the Iranian border, a beloved summer resort and picnic spot of Kurdistan.
Read article →Mount Goizha, the mountain rising over Sulaymaniyah — its slopes bearing the city’s name and the Kurdistan flag, a beloved place for hiking, picnics, and sunset views over the Kurdish cultural capital.
Read article →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 →This weekly Kurdish news roundup covers Erbil’s first Kurdish book fair, France’s support for Kurdistan’s stability, Peshmerga air-defense gaps, the KRG environmental crackdown, Erbil-Baghdad oil-export urgency, and the continuing need for diplomacy during regional crisis.
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 →Stephen Mansfield, American author of The Miracle of the Kurds, brought the modern Kurdish story to Western readers and was honoured by Rudaw.
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.
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