page_title: Iraqi art
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Iraqi art / 20th century / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: العربية: شناشيل البصرة القديمة,1954مEnglish: Shanashil of the old part of Basra city in southern Iraq,1954
context_page_description: Iraqi art, throughout its entire history, has been influenced by war, revolutions and frequent political changes. For centuries, the capital, Baghdad was the Medieval centre of the literary and artistic Arab world, but its artistic traditions suffered at the hands of the Mongol invaders in the 13th century. During other periods it has flourished, such as during the reign of Pir Budaq, or under Ottoman rule in the 16th century when Baghdad was known for its Ottoman miniature painting. During the rule of the Safavids, Iraqi art was influenced by Persian art, and it became a centre of poetry as well as arts. In the 20th century, an art revival, which combined both tradition and modern techniques, produced many notable poets, painters and sculptors who contributed to the inventory of public artworks, especially in Baghdad. These artists are highly regarded in the Middle East, and some have earned international recognition. The Iraqi modern art movement had a profound influence on pan-Arab art generally.
context_section_description: Modern architecture presented contemporary architects with a major challenge. A continuous tradition of both domestic and public architecture was evident, but failed to conform with modern materials and methods. From the early 20th century, architecture employed new styles and new materials and public taste became progressively modern. The period was characterised by original designs produced by local architects, who had been trained in Europe, including: Mohamed Makiya, Makkiyya al-Jadiri, Mazlum, Qatan Adani and Rifat Chadirji.
  Like visual artists, Iraqi architects searched for a distinctly national style of architecture and this became a priority in the 20th century. Mohammed Makkiyya and Rifat Chadirji were the two most influential architects in terms of defining modern Iraqi architecture. The architect, Chadirji, who wrote a seminal book on Iraqi architecture, called this approach international regionalism. He explains:
  "From the very outset of my practice, I thought it imperative that, sooner or later, Iraq create for itself an architecture regional in character yet simultaneously modern, part of the current international avant-garde style."
  Architects sought an architectural language that would remind visitors of ancient Iraqi architectural history. To that end, architects used Iraqi motifs in their designs and incorporated traditional design practices, such as temperature control, natural ventilation, courtyards, screen walls and reflected light within their work. Architects also became designers who designed furniture and lighting with reference to the peculiarities of Iraqi climate, culture and material availability.
  As cities underwent a period of "modernisation" in the early decades of the 20th century, traditional structures came under threat and subject to demolition. The mudhif (or reed dwelling) or the bayt (houses) with features such as the shanashol (the distinctive oriel window with timber lattice-work) and bad girs (wind-catchers) were being lost with alarming haste.
  The architect, Rifat Chadirji along with his father, Kamil Chadirji, feared the vernacular architecture and ancient monuments would be lost to the new development associated with the oil boom in the mid-century. They documented the region photographically and in 1995, published a book entitled, The Photographs of Kamil Chadirji: Social Life in the Middle East, 1920-1940, which recorded the buildings and lifestyles of the Iraqi people. The artist, Lorna Selim, who taught drawing at Baghdad University's Department of Architecture, in the 1960s took her students to sketch traditional buildings along the Tigris and was especially interested in exposing young architects to Iraq's vernacular architecture, alley-ways and historical monuments. The work of Selim and Chadirji inspired a new generation of architects to consider including traditional design features - such as Iraqi practices of temperature control, natural ventilation, courtyards, screen walls and reflected light - in their designs.
caption: Shanashil (distinctive oriel window) in Basra, 1954
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