For those of you not familiar with the past Iraqi War or with Persian geography, you may not have heard of a couple of places that have played a part in its history. You may not have heard of Amna Suraka. This place is located in Iraq and is considered as one of the more impressive museums in Iraq. It has however, a fairly dark and horrible past.
The building wherein the museum is situated is actually a former prison used by the security forces of former president Saddam Hussein. Its name in Kurdish basically means Red Security House, or in short Red Security. The museum stands as a testament and a reminder for the world wherein thousands were interned in this prison and were tortured and maltreated for political crimes, or for just simply being of Kurdish origin.
The museum is located in the former security complex in the city of Sulaymaniyeh, and has retained its former red color complete with bullet holes received during the war of liberation and uprising in 1991. The courtyard in the Red Security building is replete with machineries and equipment of death. It is full of tanks, mortars, artillery pieces of assorted shapes and sizes. This is a grim reminder of what Iraq was before.
The Hall of Mirrors is the first room or area that the tourist and visitor will see upon entrance to the museum. One form of installation art that contains 182,000 shards of glass is most fascinating. Each shard represents one loss of life taken from the Kurdish nation during the rule of Iraq under Saddam. The ceiling also has art that pays homage to the villages destroyed by Saddam, represented by twinkling lights each representing one village, numbering 4,500 in all.
The room next to the Hall of Mirrors is a room that shows a replica of a typical Kurdish village and is passed when one enters the main building. Here in the main building visitors will feel a bit uneasy as this is where the torture chambers and prison cells are contained. One part in the area is recreated with gruesome statues and sculptures of Kurdish prisoners. Probably the most heart wrenching is a lifelike diorama of two children being tortured to extract information from them.
Going down further to the basement, one will be immersed in a photo gallery depicting the chemical attack on Halabja. The way it is presented here is somewhat akin to what one would see in the Holocaust museum in Tel Aviv. It will definitely make one more humanistic and sympathetic to the Kurdish plight.
Thus on the trip that involve Kurdistan, whether one is just backpacking through or riding through, it would be recommended to visit this place. Not only will it be educational, but a somewhat humanizing experience as well.
The building wherein the museum is situated is actually a former prison used by the security forces of former president Saddam Hussein. Its name in Kurdish basically means Red Security House, or in short Red Security. The museum stands as a testament and a reminder for the world wherein thousands were interned in this prison and were tortured and maltreated for political crimes, or for just simply being of Kurdish origin.
The museum is located in the former security complex in the city of Sulaymaniyeh, and has retained its former red color complete with bullet holes received during the war of liberation and uprising in 1991. The courtyard in the Red Security building is replete with machineries and equipment of death. It is full of tanks, mortars, artillery pieces of assorted shapes and sizes. This is a grim reminder of what Iraq was before.
The Hall of Mirrors is the first room or area that the tourist and visitor will see upon entrance to the museum. One form of installation art that contains 182,000 shards of glass is most fascinating. Each shard represents one loss of life taken from the Kurdish nation during the rule of Iraq under Saddam. The ceiling also has art that pays homage to the villages destroyed by Saddam, represented by twinkling lights each representing one village, numbering 4,500 in all.
The room next to the Hall of Mirrors is a room that shows a replica of a typical Kurdish village and is passed when one enters the main building. Here in the main building visitors will feel a bit uneasy as this is where the torture chambers and prison cells are contained. One part in the area is recreated with gruesome statues and sculptures of Kurdish prisoners. Probably the most heart wrenching is a lifelike diorama of two children being tortured to extract information from them.
Going down further to the basement, one will be immersed in a photo gallery depicting the chemical attack on Halabja. The way it is presented here is somewhat akin to what one would see in the Holocaust museum in Tel Aviv. It will definitely make one more humanistic and sympathetic to the Kurdish plight.
Thus on the trip that involve Kurdistan, whether one is just backpacking through or riding through, it would be recommended to visit this place. Not only will it be educational, but a somewhat humanizing experience as well.
About the Author:
Read my intriguing story about the experience at Amna Suraka Iraq where I faced many challenges along the way. I have written about my backpacking Iraq to Saddam Hussein's house of horrors. Check out my blog today by visiting the website.
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