Iraq's battle to preserve a 3,000-year-old temple - in pictures

The ancient city of Dur Kurigalzu is being threatened by nature and modern construction

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  The 3,000-year-old Babylonian-era ziggurat of Aqar Quf towers above the landscape in Abu Ghraib town, 30km west of Baghdad. All photos: EPA

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  The ziggurat at the archaeological site of Aqar Quf, or Dur Kurigalzu, at Abu Ghraib town, 30 km western Baghdad, Iraq, 13 June 2023. The ziggurat at Aqar Quf, standing to a height of about 52 meters, was a temple for the god Enlil, the master of the air for the Kassite, and is currently an archaeological site of the ancient city of Dur Kurigalzu (or the Fortress of Kurigalzu). After being founded by the Kassite King Kurigalzu I in the 14th century BC, the city was controlled by the Assyrians and Elamites several times before being destroyed by the Syrians in the middle of the 11th century BC. EPA / AHMED JALIL

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  It was a temple for Enlil, the ancient Mesopotamian deity of the wind, air, earth and storms

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  It is currently an archaeological site of the ancient city of Dur Kurigalzu - or Fortress of Kurigalzu

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  The site was abandoned and looted following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein by the US military

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  Rain and standing groundwater, as well as the encroachment of modern construction, contribute to the deterioration of ziggurat and damage to the ruins

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  After being founded by the Kassite King Kurigalzu I in the 14th century BC, the city was controlled by the Assyrians and Elamites several times before being destroyed in the middle of the 11th century BC

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  The ziggurat at Aqar Quf

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