Samarra

Sāmarrā (Arabic: سامَرّاء‎) is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Salah ad-Din Governorate, 125 kilometers (78 mi) north of Baghdad and, in 2003, had an estimated population of 348,700. Medieval Islamic writers believed that the name “Samarra” is derived from the Arabic phrase “Surra man ra’a” (Arabic: سر من رأى‎), which translates to “A joy for all who see”. In 2007, UNESCO named Samarra one of its World Heritage Sites. The remains of ancient Samarra were first excavated between 1911 and 1914 by the German Archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld. Since 1946, the notebooks, letters, unpublished excavation reports and photographs have been in the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Though the present archaeological...