Show a 1 rr r o n e u I p h y 1 9 p r t Ak H A AA wAw y yr Q vi r 3 tf S pr ye J Jy y F il s a f y I r IX tf Tw si i v vAl k S ar h J r N uJ a Al AI Maldan a New Street Through Center of Bagdad I EOPLE are apt to be disappointed disappoint disappoint- PEOPLE P ed In Bagdad but this Is not unnatural unnatural un un- unnatural un- un natural unless one bears henrs clearly In mind that what one sees today today to to- day is a comparatively modern Turco Turco- ArabIan town and not the city of romance romance romance ro ro- ro- ro mance of ot Arabian Nights entertainments entertainments entertainments entertain entertain- ments that one has probably imagined That old Bagdad or 01 rather Dar Dar es es- es Salam as It was originally called was built bunt In the year A A A. D. D b by Al AI Mansur Mansur Man- Man sur the second caliph out of the ruins of the city of It saw Its da days s 's In the time of Caliph Haroun-al Haroun Haroun al the fifth of the line who flourished from to A. A D. D The city soon after this came to Its end i The caliphate was f for r political reasons reasons reasons rea rea- sons moved to In and when it was brought back hack again to Bagdad In a new elt city was built bunt bunton on the opposite I. I I e. e left bank of or the time Tigris a mile or two downstream from Crom the old site Of Dar es Dar Salam Salam nothing now remains but a few Indistinct mounds says a writer In the Times of or India Illustrated Weekly It cannot even be said that the new capital of ot which we have ha just spoken is 18 the Bagdad that we know today The site has remained the same but butof butof of or the city there is now nothing aboveground above aboveground ground that can be Identified as ns being nearly as old as Bagdad has hns suffered suffered suffered suf suf- suf- suf more often and more severely from destruction and decay than European European Eu Eu- or Indian cities even taking into account such incidents as tho the great grent fire of London or the sequence of events e that has produced the seven capitals at nt Delhi DeIhl or the cheer cheery habit of the old Roman emperors of pulling down the buildings of their predecessors sors SOlS In order to build finer liner ones for themselves Twice has Bagdad been sacked In 1258 1255 by the Mongols under Khan and again In 1400 by Tamerlane It has hns been besieged many times and flooded still more often otten S Such ch a life would be bound to tell on the constitution even en of a well-built well city and Bagdad was not that It was built with inferior building material anti and as ns often as not with Inferior skill sl and Its sufferings have entirely chang chang- ed it during luring the course of time Few Old Buildings Remain How thoroughly bad the construction of some buildings has been more been more particularly par par- particularly In modern times times may may be he Judged from the fact that two large minarets belonging to one of the time mosques of the city which were built huilt I within the memory of ot the Inhabitants of Bagdad have already lost Jost their thell top stories But this of ot course Is an un extreme extreme extreme ex ex- example On the other hand Imand there therl Is the Khan a 11 large brick vaulted building In the center of the cit city which Is In Its way as us wonderful wonderful won won- a 0 piece of ot construction as one can see anywhere It was built In 1359 1859 and is still In use and In excellent excellent excellent excel excel- lent preservation The l mosque close b by and having ns as part Jart of or Its endowments the income derived d from the Khan Is another fine old bul building lIng It was as built two years before the time Khan nn and Is of considerable considerable con con- architectural merit A few fragments of an un earlier date are to be f found In different parts of the city Some portions of the old fortification of for example exam pIe and the eleventh century minarets of and of the time nh mosque and at any uny rate some of ot the tho I walls of the old ah college eleventh century may be mentioned But there are no other old buildings as complete as the khan and the mosque Beautiful From Beautiful From a Distance Apart from these few examples of ot an an earner earlier period the Bagdad we know toda today Is of the seventeenth or eighteenth eIghteenth eighteenth eight eIght- and succeeding centuries which in terms of architecture Is comparatively comparatively comparatively modern Judged In this light Bagdad Is not disappointing It Is Is particularly for a Mesopotamian town quite a delightful place From the distance distance dis dis- dis tance It presents a most attractive pIcture pic pIc- ture From miles away In the desert one OIle can see the time green mass mss of Bagdad floating in the atmosphere and as one approaches nearer along the time dreary dusty track Its colored domes and gilded minarets can cnn be distinguished showing above the palms and trees As one enters the town most of this is lost to sight and one finds oneself in a narrow winding street The walls wanson on either side are usually very bare Ever Every now and then one passes a adoor adoor adoor door sometimes plain sometimes quite ornate with joll Jolly brass door knockers Above from the first floor are projecting projecting projecting pro pro- oriel windows these too varyIng varying varying vary vary- ing from plain brick and timber to carved wood of great richness wIth richness with pierced screens often of very beautiful beautiful ful design But be lie the they plain or fancy the they cast a pleasant shadow on the therond road rond beneath and Incidentally block out from view except for a n glimpse here and there the domes or minarets which were so noticeable from flOm outside time the city walls Out of the maze of these narrow streets one would never emerge had It not been for the kindness of the Turk who er very thoughtfully cut a broad road right through the center of t the e town In commemoration of the fall of Kut Now In our day we use It fo fur for forthe the main stream of traffic But the most charming feature of Bagdad Is the time river front and this alone Is SJ clent to compel ones one's admiration admiration ad ad- ti NJ the city Basra in comparison comparison com corn parison is all mud and shipping Amara is pretentious with a row of I buildings of uniform design facing on ona a promenade which reminds one too much of a terrace on the front of a small seaside resort Kut Iut Is pIcturesque picturesque pic pie too but designed on a scale befitting its size and Importance and with its mosques and public buildings the palms and the trees and t more especially es es- tho the numbers number of ot delightful rIverside riverside riverside riv rIv- houses houfe with their verandas rand nod balconies and their exquisite little gardens gardens gar gar- gardens dens overhanging o the time 11 river vel Bagdad leas has a character and a charm churm all nil Its own t |