THE GREAT ZIGGURAT OF UR - Architecture...

HISTORYIt is was built in the city of Ur present day TELL-EL-MUKAYYAR in Dhi Qar Province in Iraq

ARCHITECTURAL HISTORYØOver the years, successive kings added their own layers on to the existing ziggurat.ØAdded layers used previous materials as platforms during their construction.ØBy the 21st century BC,King UR- Nammu wanted to create the greatest ziruggat.ØHe directed that the existing ziruggat be dug away to form a platform of his ziggurat.ØThis was the beginning of the construction of the great ziggurat of Ur.

SIGNIFICANCE

ØThe ziggurat was built by king Ur- Nammu and his son Shulgi.ØIt was built to serve as a Temple for the moon goddess Nanna who was the divine patron of the state.ØThis was a place where people took their agricultural surplus,received their food allotments and sought for spiritual and physical nourishment

COMPLETION

§ King Ur did not live to see this ziggurat complete.§ The son Shulgi took over the building process

and it was complete in the 21st century BC even though Shulgi had proclaimed himself as a god in order to win the support of the town.

THE RESTORATION OF THE ZIGGURAT

ØOver the years the ziggurat underwent various damages because of the wars and climatic conditions in Iraq.ØThe last neo-Babylonian King "KING NABODIMUS” of Mesopotamia restored it by replacing the two upper terraces.ØNabodimus found it hard to know how the original monument looked like. He did his restoration in seven stages instead of 3ØThis was done in the 6th century BC.

THE KING AND HIS ZIGGURAT

KING NABODIMUS

King Nabodimus Ancient location of the king

ØThe firs excavation was done in 1854 by John G.Taylor.ØTaylor found four clay cylinders each at one corner of the ziggurat. This identified the location of the ziggurats to be Ur.ØThe cylinders were written on “for the Babylonian king who reigned from 555BC to 539BC”.This confirmed that the ziggurat had been built by King Nabodimus.ØHowever an extensive excavation was carried out in the 1920s by Sir. Leonard Woolley by the appointment of the university museum of the University of Pennsylvania and the Britain museum.ØHis excavation brought to us the picture of how the ziggurat was built.

DESIGN APPROACH

ØLeonard found that the ziggurat was oriented to the true North and its base was 210feet(64m)by 150feet(46m) and approximately 100feet(30m)high.

ØThe ziggurat was made of three layers of which the first layer was the original layer built by Ur- Nammu. The other two upper layers were those built by the last neo-Babylonian king –Nabodimus during his restoration of the ziggurat. The layers were in form of levels of terraces.

ØThree monumental staircases led to the first terrace level, a single staircase led to the 2nd terrace level and another single staircase led to the last terrace level where the Temple of the god stood.

ØThe core of the ziggurat is made up of mud brick covered with baked bricks 11.5x11.5x2.75 inches weighing 33pounds(15kg) laid with bitumen.The lower level of the temple contains amazing details of engineering design:ØSince the inner core would have been damp due to varying seasons, the architects included holes through the exterior layer of the temple allowing water to evaporate from its core.ØDrains were also built into the ziggurats’ terraces to carry away the winter rains.

SADDAM HUSSEIN

In the 1980s Saddam Hussein restored the façade of the massive lower foundation including the 3 monumental staircases.

During the war led by the Americans and the coalition forces,Saddam parked his fighter jets next to the ziggurat hoping the bombers would spare them for fear of destroying the ancient site.Unfortunately the ziggurat was bombed causing damages on the structure

THE PRESENT ZIGGURATA1

Slide 19

A1 Abuya, 14/07/2013

ØAqar quf is a city south of Mesopotamia near the confluence of the Tigris and Diyala.ØThe city was formally known as Dur Kurigalzu in Baghdad.ØThis ziggurat was founded by Kassite-king of Babylon back in the 14th century BC.ØIt was later abandoned after the fall of the Kassite dynasty.ØThis ziggurat stands 170 feet high.

SOURCES OF THE RESEARCH

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ziggurat_of_Ur