Memory Lane

An ode to the literary soul of Baghdad

- FATIMA RIZWAN

In the newly renovated Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar, visitors entered the dimly lit, black-walled exhibition room to find themselves surrounded by contemporary Arab art, paying homage to Iraq's intellectual, artistic and cultural heritage. The exhibition, Baghdad: Eye's Delight, was one of several programmes scheduled as part of Qatar-MENASA 2022 Year of Culture, celebrating the capital of Iraq as one of the most important and influential cities in the Islamic world. However, remembering Baghdad's past does not come without opening old wounds for Iraqis.

Twenty years have passed since the United States-led violent invasion of Iraq, which also led to the pillaging and destruction of its national museum and archaeological sites. Yet Iraq's resilience echoes in the Middle East, through the testimonials of poets, artists and writers. The exhibition highlighted Baghdad's role, across centuries, as a city of power, scholarship and riches, culminating with a look at the city's social fabric, its cosmopolitan population and traditions, which have, as the exhibition put it, "despite war and destruction-enabled the city to thrive, time and time again." To that extent, the visual artist Ghassan Ghaib paid a fitting tribute to the booksellers, poets and the lives lost in the 2007 bombing of Mutanabbi Street-the literary soul of Baghdad.