An ancient city has to be preserved but the price is high, the 828 families living there have been thrown out of their homes. This was done by Kurdish authorities of northern Iraq with the aim of getting the area approved of as a World Heritage Site.
Irbil’s crumbling citadel still dominates the skyline of the city. As per Sami Al Koja, an adviser to the citadel’s board of renovation, it is the oldest continuously inhabited place in the world. It has been the site of human habitation for more than 7,000 years. Local officials want to renovate the ancient structure and turn it into a cultural and historical center for tourists.
From the Sumerian town of “Ur Bilum.” it has been inhabited by various Civilizations ; Assyrians; Persians; Greeks and Ottomans one after the other.
The present situation
A city of sagging, brown-brick houses divided by a labyrinth of winding, unpaved alleys. It was also home to Kurdish refugees brutalised by a a war ravaged country. And now an empty town of crumbling walls.
What happened to the evacuated families?
The families were re compensated by a plot of land and $4,000 for new homes. They are striving to make it their New Citadel
A city is made to be lived in. The ideal situation would be when the Irbil Citadel is renovated , preserving the homes in such a manner that part of it could be reinhabited.
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