Karrada ( ar, كرّادة ''Karrāda'') is an upper-class district of the city of
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
. It has a mixed population of Muslims and
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...
. It is one of the most religiously diverse areas of the city, and is one of the two major districts of the Christian community in Baghdad, along with
Dora. All of the Christians of the district congregate in Inner Karrada, where most of the Churches are located, with congregations of Chaldeans, Assyrians, Melkite Greeks, and Armenian Catholics. It has two sub-districts, being Nazaith and Masbah. Karrada is on the northern part of the peninsula, which was created by a sharp turn in the
Tigris river
The Tigris () is the easternmost 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, and empties into the P ...
. As a result, the district has much waterfront property, making it a desirable and expensive district.
Bombings
The district of Karrada has had multiple terrorist attacks over the years, which occurred in part to the presence of its large Shia and Christian population and wealth. The area is relatively free from sectarianism otherwise, with the actual people of the district coexisting quite well. The airline
Al-Naser Airlines
Al Naser Wings Airlines ( ar, أجنحة الناصر), formerly known as Al-Naser Airlines, was a small Iraqi airline based in Karrada, Baghdad, Iraq. The airline operated scheduled domestic flights to places in the Middle East, mostly to Damascus ...
has its head office in Karrada, in an area next to Al Jadirya Private Hospital. On 3 July 2016, an
ISIL terrorist attack in the area killed 347 civilians on one of the last evenings marking the end of
Ramadan
, type = islam
, longtype = Religious
, image = Ramadan montage.jpg
, caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...
.
Other districts on the peninsula
Karrada shares the peninsula with
Al-Jadriya district. It is a small district which lies at the southern tip of the peninsula, where the Tigris river makes its major turn and heads to the north-east. Its significance comes from its quality of life, and its real estate is, along with Karrada, some of the most expensive in Baghdad.
The design and building of the
University of Baghdad
The University of Baghdad (UOB) ( ar, جامعة بغداد ''Jāmi'at Baghdād'') is the largest university in Iraq, tenth largest in the Arab world, and the largest university in the Arab world outside Egypt.
Nomenclature
Both University ...
Campus in 1958 also added to its value since the University has become one of the most important locations in the city, and its campus takes up the entire right half of the district. The University of Baghdad campus was designed by
Walter Gropius
Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one ...
,
AIA AIA or A.I.A. or Aia may refer to:
Aia
* Aia, a small town in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa, Spain
* Aia, current Kutaisi, ancient capital of Colchis
* Aia, another name for Aea (Malis), an ancient town in Greece
* ''Aia'', the collected edi ...
,
Louis Mcmillen and
Robert McMillan of
The Architects Collaborative. There is one subdistrict of the city: Babil, likely named for the Babylon hotel that has its location in the district.
See also
*
Kulwatha
References
Administrative districts in Baghdad
Neighborhoods in Baghdad
{{Iraq-geo-stub