Ancient Babylon's bricks finding their way into modern buildings
The city of Hillah was built a thousand years ago using bricks scavenged from the ruins of Babylon, and the practice of reusing the ancient building materials continues there to this day.
BAGHDAD — Every now and then Iraqis are surprised to find out that some of the new buildings in the city of Hillah, south of Baghdad, are still being built with antique bricks stolen over the past century from the ancient city of Babylon.
Mohammed al-Hilli, a 75-year-old stonemason from Hillah, told Al-Monitor, “We often find authentic Babylonian brick while demolishing dilapidated houses.” He explained, “During the 1950s, it was very common to transport bricks from the city of Babil to be used in housing construction. But this has stopped following the tightened security measures and increasing interest by the authorities in the city.”
Hilli went on, “In old neighborhoods, mainly Mahallat al-Jami’in, al-Kaoud neighborhood and Tais, one can still find Babylonian bricks that were brought here by our ancestors on animals to use in construction.”
Other elderly locals said that the city of Hillah used to have a wall built with bricks from Babylon that were transported to the city via primitive river barges.
