Early History
The Palace was commissioned by King Faisal II of Iraq in the 1950s as the new official royal residence following his planned wedding to Egyptian Princess Sabiha Fazila Khanim Sultan. It was built by Harold A. Claridge, a major of New Zealand origin in the British Army, and architect to the Armed Forces. He had also overseen construction of the Parliament Houses in Baghdad, and several war memorials in Egypt. The King would never live in the palace, as he was assassinated before his wedding in the 1958 coup. The palace was thus renamed the Republican Palace.
In the early 1990s Saddam sponsored a competition for original works of art for his palaces. Nahla, an Iraqi artist, architect, and member of the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra, submitted a work on paper for a mural. Nahla, won first prize in the competition and her work was realized as shown, in the north wing of the Republican Palace, in stone, by other craftsman. Nahla was allowed no part in the development of the mural and in fact, to this day, she has not seen it in person. Her first view of the completed mural was a photograph on a web site. Nahla is currently living in exile in Paris, France.
Nahla's title of the piece, and included in Arabic across the face of the mural, is "Baghdad My Beloved".
Read more about this topic: Republican Palace
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