![ruins of babylon ruins of babylon](https://www.imago-images.com/bild/st/0089714326/w.jpg)
'We are optimistic about 'ruins tourism' in Iraq,' Qais Hussein Rasheed, acting head of Iraq's Committee of Antiquities and Heritage, told Reuters. Eventually, if security in Iraq continues to improve, officials hope tourists will return. But Saddam's alterations might be best left alone. Ackerman said one of the first things the WMF would do was establish whether underground water was present and erect barriers to prevent it from seeping into the ruins and damaging the clay bricks. He built an artificial lake in what critics called the 'Disneyfication' of Babylon. A mural of King Nebuchadnezzar in blue and gold, with a suspiciously Saddam-like face, adorns one wall a tacky cartoon lion, another. Qais Hussein Rasheed, Committee of Antiquities and HeritageĪnd he painted on it. God willing, we could surpass Jordan and Egypt's tourism Apart from his palace, he also rebuilt Processional Way, a street of ancient stones. Saddam Hussein's insensitive reconstructions also pose a dilemma for efforts to restore Babylon. embassy in Baghdad is contributing $700,000 towards the site's restoration. 'They also crushed walls by landing helicopters on them.' The U.S. 'They dug trenches for storing gas by the Babylon theater,' said Maitham Hamza, who keeps the site's two museums. and Polish military vehicles had crushed 2,600-year-old pavements and their forces had used archaeological fragments to fill sandbags. The British Museum said in a report that U.S. military occupied Babylon as a base for five months before handing over to a Polish-led division which left in 2005. Babylon, and places such as the southern marshes believed to be the biblical Garden of Eden, could eventually be major attractions. 'It's a culture that had a profound impact on what we think of as modern civilization.' It may also help war-racked Iraq generate revenue in the future through tourism, as it seeks to rebuild after years of sectarian slaughter and attacks by insurgents. When people say this (region) is the cradle of civilization, that's certainly true of Babylon,' Lisa Ackerman, WMF vice-president, told Reuters. Officials say preserving Babylon, a relic of a time and place that gave birth to such milestones of civilization as agriculture, writing, codified law and the wheel, is crucial.
![ruins of babylon ruins of babylon](https://i.natgeofe.com/n/18b80fef-63f4-4423-8da0-d99ad9b614df/babylonian-oasis-artist-rendering_16x9.jpg)
The Ishtar Gate has been in Berlin since German archaeologists seized it before World War One, despite calls for its return. Its clay-brick walls are crumbling, a statue of the Lion of Babylon has all but lost its facial features and European imperial powers long ago looted the best of Babylon.
![ruins of babylon ruins of babylon](https://cdn.superstock.com/2058/Comp/2058-523883.jpg)
The ruins of the once mighty city are a far cry from the Babylon of popular imagination, with its magnificent golden gate and lush gardens cultivated by King Nebuchadnezzar for his wife.