The Babylon Rotana Baghdad Hotel is a 284-room hotel on the banks of the

Tigris River The Tigris ( ; see below) is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, before merging ...

, in the

Al-Jadriya {{Infobox settlement , name = Al-Jadriya , native_name = الجادرية , native_name_lang = ar , settlement_type = Neighborhood , image_skyline = Al-Jadriyah.jpg , imagesize = , image_alt ...

district of

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

History

The hotel's architecture is a

Ziggurat A ziggurat (; Cuneiform: 𒅆𒂍𒉪, Akkadian: ', D-stem of ' 'to protrude, to build high', cognate with other Semitic languages like Hebrew ''zaqar'' (זָקַר) 'protrude'), ( Persian: Chogha Zanbilچغازنجبیل) is a type of massive ...

, in the form of a terraced

step pyramid A step pyramid or stepped pyramid is an architectural structure that uses flat platforms, or steps, receding from the ground up, to achieve a completed shape similar to a geometric pyramid. Step pyramids – typically large and made of several la ...

of successively receding stories or levels. It was designed by Slovenian architect

Edvard Ravnikar Edvard Ravnikar (4 December 1907 – 23 August 1993) was a Slovenian architect. Ravnikar was born in Novo Mesto and was a student of architect Jože Plečnik. Later, he led the new generation of Slovene architects, notable for developing ...

and was originally intended to be built as a beach resort at

Budva Budva (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Будва, or ) is a town in the Coastal Montenegro, Coastal region of Montenegro. It had 27,445 inhabitants as of 2023, and is the centre of Budva Municipality. The coastal area around Budva, called the Budv ...

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

, in

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. When that project fell through, the plans were re-used and slightly adjusted for the new site in Baghdad. The hotel originally opened in 1982 as The Babylon Oberoi, managed by

Oberoi Hotels & Resorts The Oberoi Group is a luxury hotel group with its head office in New Delhi, India. Founded in 1934, the company owns and operates 32 luxury hotels and two river cruise ships in 7 countries, primarily under its Oberoi Hotels & Resorts and Triden ...

. The interiors were designed by Indian architect Sunita Kohli. Oberoi severed their connection with the hotel due to the 1991

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

. On January 25, 2010, the Babylon Hotel was the site of a car bomb attack. The hotel joined the

Warwick Hotels and Resorts Warwick Hotels and Resorts (WHR) (formerly Warwick International Hotels) is a global hospitality company. As of January 2023, WHR encompasses over 40 hotels. The group of hotels, known as ''The Collection'', consists of owned and managed, man ...

chain in October 2014 as the Babylon Warwick Hotel. On May 29, 2015, it was hit by another deadly car bomb attack. On January 9, 2019, the hotel ended its contract with Warwick Hotels and Resorts, signed a contract with

Rotana Hotels Rotana Hotel Management Corporation PJSC () is a hotel management company in the Middle East, Africa, the Balkans and Turkey. It has a portfolio of over 100 properties in 26 cities and operates six sub brands which include Rotana Hotels & Resorts, ...

on January 20, 2019. The hotel was renamed Babylon Rotana Baghdad Hotel on February 1, 2019.

References

External links

Babylon Rotana Baghdad Hotel official website

Vladimir Kulić, "Building the Non-Aligned Babel: Babylon Hotel in Baghdad and Mobile Design in the Global Cold War"
''Architecture Beyond Europe (Abe) Journal'', 6/2014 Dossier: Socialist Networks Hotels in Baghdad Hotels established in 1982 Hotel buildings completed in 1982 Ziggurat style modern architecture Yugoslav architecture beyond former Yugoslavia Iraq War sites in Baghdad Iraq–Slovenia relations Iraq–Yugoslavia relations {{Iraq-struct-stub