Repairs halt collapse of Iraq’s ancient Arch of Ctesiphon
Workers are restoring Iraq’s Arch of Ctesiphon, the world’s largest unsupported brickbuilt arch, to its former splendour.
The sixth-century monument, 30 kilometres south of the capital Baghdad, is the only remaining structure from the ancient Persian imperial capital Ctesiphon.
Restoration work on the arch, also called Taq Kasra, was carried out in 2013 after heavy rain caused a massive slab to fall.
But the new bricks also began to fall down last year.
Repairs that began in March are due to be completed next month, said David Michelmore, a conservation expert working with archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania.
The next stage will be “total restoration” that will help to strengthen the structure, he said.
“What is falling down at the minute is not the original Sassanian construction. It’s the modern repairs,” he said.
“There was quite a lot of reconstruction done in 20132014 and probably all of this will need to be taken down and replaced.”
Construction of the arch began in 540AD during the Persian Sassanid dynasty’s long wars with the Byzantine Empire. It formed part of a palace complex started three centuries earlier.
It stands 37 metres tall and 48 metres long.
Iraqi Culture Minister Hassan Nazim said the work aimed to “consolidate” the site, which is near the bank of the Tigris River and at risk of groundwater infiltration.
The current phase is financed with $700,000 from the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas, said Laith Majid Hussein, director of the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage.
He said “numerous mistakes” were made in the previous restoration, including the application of a heavy layer of cement on the arch.
The world’s largest unsupported brickwork arch was built in the sixth century as part of a palace complex