If the mud bricks and limestone that make up the Great Ziggurat temple in Ur could talk, they may first tell you about one of the world’s early urban centers that emerged more than 6,000 years ago.They may speak of the birth of Abraham, the patriarch of the Christian, Muslim and Jewish faiths. You may even hear a whisper of Assyria or Babylon, the invention of the wheel or the Code of Hammurabi.

And now they may tell of the March 6 visit by Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church and the sovereign of the Vatican City State, who led prayers alongside leaders of the Muslim, Yazidi and Sanaean faiths. Francis stopped in the ancient city during his historic three-day trip to Iraq March 5-8, the first ever papal visit to the country. His trip sought to uplift Iraq’s remaining Christians, encourage those who left to return and promote a message of interfaith tolerance. 

“Today we — Jews, Christians and Muslims, together with our brothers and sisters of other religions — honor our father Abraham by doing as he did: we look up to heaven and we journey on earth,” Francis said.

Located a few hundred miles south of Baghdad, Ur was built by the Sumerians around 3,800 BC. It was initially near the Euphrates, but the river has since shifted. The city grew to feature markets, agricultural villages and important transit routes with other cities.