Nisour Square Monument

The Nisour Monument is considered one of the most important works of the Iraqi sculptor Miran Al Saadi. Work on the monument began in 1965 and was completed in 1969 after five years of effort.

The monument depicts two falconers’ masks enclosed within a split sphere, topped by a group of bronze eagles. This symbolic design evokes notions of strength, elevation, and the protection of the homeland.

It is almost certain that the monument’s design drew inspiration from the separated dome of the Martyr’s Monument by artist Ismail Fattah Al Turk.

The work symbolizes Iraqi pilots who fought in wars, as well as the pride deeply rooted in Iraq’s history from its ancient civilizations to the modern era.

The monument was erected on the same site where an Iraqi pilot landed after his aircraft was shot down in 1963.

After 2003, proposals were made to remove the monument due to its association with the Ba’ath Party, but widespread public opposition prevented this from happening.

The monument survived multiple violent events and explosions that shook the area, including the 2007 incident in the same square, in which around 20 civilians were killed by gunfire from an American security company.

Its bronze material helped preserve its structure during its relocation to Al Zawraa Park and its subsequent return to its original site.

The monument’s original base was quadrilateral and featured a fountain that added flowing water around it, but it was later concealed within a concrete circle after suffering erosion in the 1990s.

Today, the Nisour Monument remains one of Baghdad’s most prominent landmarks. It gives the square its name and preserves its symbolic place in collective memory as a monument to strength, courage, and the aspiration to soar upward.