The Perfume Palace, Baghdad
[This is transcribed from notes I jotted down on my recent trip to Baghdad. The verb tense makes sense when read in that context]
The Perfume Palace was a brothel for Uday and Husay Hussein, causing it to always smell of the perfume of their concubines.
I just arrived in Baghdad for a conference and I must say that I am in awe. I have not even seen the base under daylight, but have already been wowed with numerous sights. First, the Perfume Palace. This building was a brothel for Uday and Husay Hussein, causing it to always smell of the perfume of their concubines. In front of it sits a man-made lake (one of many lakes on the base) and it is flanked by multiple canals that once flowed freely but now sit stagnant. This palace is the most incredible architectural sight I have ever beheld. It stands about 90-feet tall, in my estimation. Inside the first floor I was introduced to the first of many expansive and lavish chambers. Marble stretched as far a the eye could see. Marble floors, columns, ceilings, walls—it was breathtaking. To one side was an elevated indoor swimming pool. I am not sure if it is utilized by the palace’s workers. I truly could not believe my eyes. Different varieties and shades of marble were used for different parts of the room, providing elegant contrast.
Next we climbed stairs to reach another room even larger than the first. The stairs were, by the way, marble, as were the guardrail and its supporting columns. In this room wooden and ceramic carvings adorned the wall at the base of the large dome that formed the ceiling. Arabic words and characters were etched onto ceramic half-spheres placed methodically around the entire room. Two wood carvings looked our upon opposite sides of the room. Both carvings showed multiple Iraqi soldiers charging ahead, carrying the Iraqi flag with the phrase “Allah is great†written in the center. A mixture of gold and glass finished off the ceiling, from which hung a huge chandelier. The floor was, of course, marble.
The third and final room I visited was the highest room of the building and its dome was the actual dome that comprised the roof and protruded from the top of the outside structure. A marvelous chandelier hung in the center of the room housing hundreds of light bulbs (six were operational). Heavy wooden doors sealed the perimeter rooms from the monstrous expanse of the center. Sweeping and overlapping wooden structures, following the pattern visible on the outside of the dome, formed the base of the ceiling, completing the impressive scene.
Victory over America Palace
In addition to the Perfume Palace I briefly saw the outside of Victory over America Palace. Apparently Saddam told the Iraqis that he won the Gulf War of 1991 and built a palace to commemorate his faux victory. Cranes still loiter the outside of the palace because construction was never finished. It is just as we found it when we arrived in 2003, and there are no plans to change it. No one inhabits it. We are purposely letting it fall apart because of its symbolic nature. I am also told there is a Victory over Iran Palace.
One of Uday/Husay’s boats. It’s seen better days. You can see the
Perfume Palace in the background.
A mosque near the Victory over America Palace.
The next day I would be introduced to the Al Faw Palace, which would just barely topple the Perfume Palace from its place as the most impressive structure I had ever seen. More to follow…
Other rumors are that the place was host as a “hunting” lodge. This made sense to us because there are small villas spaced along the airport perimeter road.
Those buildings look beautiful. Too bad the occupants were… sketchy, to say the least.