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.
Upon entrance into the building, the visitor will be greeted by the Hall of Mirrors, which contains 182,000 shards of glass, each glass shard representing one Kurdish life taken during the Anfal campaign under Saddam. The ceiling also contains 4,500 twinkling lights, each one representing a village that was destroyed under the rule of Saddam.
As the visitor continues on further, he or she will find a replica of a Kurdish traditional village home in the next room. Further on, he or she will pass through several cells used for detention and torture in the olden days. One will definitely feel uneasy as some cells contain gruesome statues that depict what had occurred in them. One particularly disturbing one is one in which two children are tortured by guards for information.
Further on visitors and tourists go down into the basement showing a graphic photo gallery of a chemical attack on the town of Halabja. In essence this is one museum that is not only historical but humanizing as well. One can probably compare it to the likes of the Holocaust Museum in Israel for it does create the same impact and sympathy for a torture people.
Thus if you would be backpacking on the way through Kurdistan, this is one place that should be visited. It is one way to connect with the past of Iraq and what her people went through in the past twenty years.
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.
Upon entrance into the building, the visitor will be greeted by the Hall of Mirrors, which contains 182,000 shards of glass, each glass shard representing one Kurdish life taken during the Anfal campaign under Saddam. The ceiling also contains 4,500 twinkling lights, each one representing a village that was destroyed under the rule of Saddam.
As the visitor continues on further, he or she will find a replica of a Kurdish traditional village home in the next room. Further on, he or she will pass through several cells used for detention and torture in the olden days. One will definitely feel uneasy as some cells contain gruesome statues that depict what had occurred in them. One particularly disturbing one is one in which two children are tortured by guards for information.
Further on visitors and tourists go down into the basement showing a graphic photo gallery of a chemical attack on the town of Halabja. In essence this is one museum that is not only historical but humanizing as well. One can probably compare it to the likes of the Holocaust Museum in Israel for it does create the same impact and sympathy for a torture people.
Thus if you would be backpacking on the way through Kurdistan, this is one place that should be visited. It is one way to connect with the past of Iraq and what her people went through in the past twenty years.
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 right away by visiting the website.
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