Watch: Rare Walkthrough Of Saddam Hussein’s Abandoned Palace By Maltese Photojournalist
We’ve all heard stories of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s extravagant life of luxury, but Maltese photojournalist Rene Rossignaud has taken the tales and rumours into reality, stepping inside the sprawling space of one of the former dictator’s palaces .
Known as the Palace of Babylon, the opulent three-storey summer residence was built back in 1986 just steps away from the historic cradle of civilisation that was the city of Babel.
Nearly 100 luxurious palaces and residences dedicated to Hussein, his family and fellow Ba’ath party officials were built all over Iraq, with this particular palace and the so-called Birds Nest Palace now acting as derelict tourist spots.
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Speaking to Lovin Malta, Rene broke down his personal experience, thoughts and feelings while walking through the abandoned historic palace.
Those who know me, know well that I’m an adrenaline junkie, and avid explorer – and Baghdad definitely ticks all my boxes.
So far it’s been just amazing. The people are so friendly and happy to meet a new face and invite them into their homes.
To be safe in these places you need to live and move around with the locals. They know best, always.
As you can imagine, not many tourists visit Baghdad, so it’s like you’re an alien walking in the streets – especially walking around with two big cameras! Having said that, I did meet a Russian guy, and a Spanish couple walking around, so some tourists are starting to explore.
Iraq has been on my bucket list for many many years, and only a few days ago I was on holiday for the fourth time in amazing Iran where I spent two weeks there.
Seeing Iraq was only a hour’s flight away, I took the chance.
At the border they had never seen a Maltese passport before, and they ended up passing the passport to each other and laughing… “Malta? Malta?”
Then they Googled it and let me in.
We drove two hours south of Baghdad, close to the city of Kerbala and I was the only tourist inside the magical ruins of Babylon.
Later, I walked up to one of Saddam’s palaces, this was used as a summer palace, although no one knows if he ever slept there or not because his whereabouts were always secret. He used to like coming here to swim in the river below and visit Babylon.
It’s reported he used to have breakfast and dinner here.
This palace is huge, spread on three floors all covered in solid patterned marble, wood carvings on the walls and ceilings. Never-ending amount of bedrooms and halls, you leave a hall and enter another, then another …
Walking through this palace, I understood the power Saddam had. No money was spared here. It’s reported that he had 80 to 100 palaces spread around Iraq, and the cost to build and finish them ran into the billions.
Is this what you expected Saddam Hussein’s former palace to look like? Sound off in the comments below
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