Sulaymaniyah: the garden city of Iraqi Kurdistan

Cultural center of Iraqi Kurdistan, Sulaymaniyya houses a museum documenting the persecutions the Kurdish people suffered in the twentieth century.

The center, nicknamed the garden city of Iraqi Kurdistan, is comfortably explored by taxi or rental car.

The Amna Suraka Museum, a former prison of Saddam Hussein's regime, recounts today the persecutions suffered by the Kurdish people, including the chemical attack on Halabja in 1988.

A few steps away, the Bazaar of Sulaymaniyya, among the most lively in Iraqi Kurdistan, enlivens commerce in spices, fabrics, and gold according to centuries-old traditions.

Continuing toward the center, visitors discover the Museum of Sulaymaniyya, which displays Mesopotamian archaeological artifacts among the most important in northern Iraq.

Toward evening, Azadi Park, the city's main green space, animates evening strolls among Kurdish families and youth.

Sulaymaniyya, considered the intellectual and cultural capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, maintains a thriving literary and editorial scene distinct from the rest of the country, with publishers and magazines in the Kurdish language.

Iraqi Kurdistan, an autonomous region since 1991, has maintained relative stability throughout the decades that allowed Sulaymaniyya to develop as the region's cultural and university hub, attracting foreign investment and new tourist infrastructure.