Kirkuk Citadel
The Kirkuk Citadel is a citadel and associated structures located in the centre of Kirkuk, Iraq, and is considered to be the oldest part of the city. The citadel stands on a tell, located on a plateau across the Khasa River.
In April 2021, the citadel site was added to the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
History
The origins of the citadel are disputed; some historians believe the oldest parts of the structure were built by the nomadic Gutian people around 3,500 years ago, others assert that the citadel was constructed by the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II between 850 and 884 BCE.King Seleucus I Nicator built a strong rampart with 72 towers around the 72 streets and the two entries to the citadel. A jewel of the citadel is the so-called "Red Church", with traces of mosaics dating to the period before the Islamic conquest of Iraq in the 7th century CE. It is believed that Timur visited the citadel in 1393 during his military expedition. The modern walls date from the Ottoman period.
In the late 1990s, Saddam Hussein, announced a campaign to "beautify" the walled citadel that involved the construction of a museum of architecture and the forced removal of mostly Kurdish and Turkoman inhabitants of the citadel including the destruction of approximately 700–850 houses. All that remained were nine monuments and nine small groups of houses. Between 1998 and 2003, inappropriate methods and materials were used to renovate the remaining structures., parts of the citadel were at risk of further deterioration due to severe neglect.