But before that it … But where to start? Das Ende der Herrlichkeit: US-Soldaten in einem Saddam-Palast in Tikrit. She was allowed no part in the development of the mural and in fact, to this day, she has not seen it in person. It’s just a matter of time before Al-Faw collapses in on itself.’ For any early speculators with a few million dollars to spare, though, now is probably a good time to grab your flak jacket and fly to Baghdad to put in an offer with the Iraqi government. Nahla's title of the piece, included in Arabic across the face of the mural, is Before the new denizens moved in, the Palace was completely vacant and somewhat emptied by As early as April 2003, some of the first tenants had started to occupy office space in the Palace, such as Andrew Goledzinowski (The influx of civilians to the Palace was immediate beginning with ORHA, During the time that the ORHA was reorganized into the Up until mid-2005, there were many organizations using the Palace for office space but it was not for reasons of centralization at all - far from it. The moment we approached, the US soldiers guarding it fired two warning shots over the taxi roof, convinced the driver and I were a pair of incompetent carbombers. Naturally he enjoyed the riches of that power, building dozens of palaces (between 80 and 100 according to different accounts) across Iraq. Weekend Palace. Some want them converted into six-star Dubai-style hotels or casinos – not perhaps a bad choice, given the general chintziness of the dictator-kitsch decor. Who knows, maybe see you there in a few years’ time. For an unpopular dictator, it was perfect, allowing him to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time. An hour’s drive south of Baghdad, on a reed-lined stretch of the River Euphrates, lies the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and its legendary Hanging Gardens, along with the foundations of the palace of King Nebuchadnezzar II, who conquered Jerusalem 2,500 years ago. The Presidential Palace after Saddam Hussein was deposed Credit: Getty Images Deranged Daesh won the keys to the palace after capturing Mosul in 2014. There was rarely a meal served where the central-south wing of the first floor was not crammed with people, as this was the only dining facility (DFAC) that the coalition forces had set up for a long time. Alternatively, if you’d rather be a palace guest than a palace owner, then sit tight and wait to see if the big names of the global hotel industry move in. ‘We should keep them as historical artefacts.’ ‘They should be rebuilt for whatever need arises – a museum documenting Saddam’s cruelty, a hospital, a mall, an army base,’ reckons Ahmed Khalid, a former resident of Baghdad’s Azamiyah district, home to a palace belonging to Saddam’s son, Uday. The 62-room palace was built in the early 1990s to commemorate Hussein… Many of his presidential palaces he never stayed in at all. Unlike his collection of personal titles, however, the late Baghdad leader’s hoard of property titles has bequeathed a rather more lasting legacy for those who took over when he was deposed in 2003. T ime spent at the Weekend Palace was never long enough.

The Tikrit Hilton? On top of the original remaining brickwork, which bore inscriptions hailing Nebuchadnezzar, the Ba’athist brickies added their own, inscribed with the words ‘In the era of Saddam Hussein, who rebuilt civilisation and rebuilt Babylon.’ Then, not content with having graffitied his name all over one of the Seven Wonders of The Ancient World, he also built what he no doubt regarded as an Eighth Wonder next door – a vast four-storey Saddam palace on a man-made hilltop, garlanded with palms and roses, but with all the architectural merit of a giant shoebox.

Some bomb damage. The Ramadi Ramada? She won first prize in the competition and her work was realized as shown, in the north wing of the Republican Palace, in stone, by other craftsman.