The Sumerian King Ur-Namma was the person who first ordered the structure to be built. Construction first started in the 21st century BCE. However, in the centuries that followed, the structure almost completely deteriorated, with nothing remaining except for the original platform. King Nabonidus then undertook an extensive project to reconstruct the ziggurat in the 6th century BCE. The last person to undertake any major reconstructive efforts was Saddam Hussein in the early 1990s. He ordered that the facade be reconstructed, as well as the three main staircases that ascend the building to be rebuilt. However, the building sustained a bit of damage during the war that followed with the Americans and their allies.