Nine coils of brick rising fifty-two metres over the Tigris - climbing the Malwiya, and what the Abbasid age still has to say to a traveller today.
The Spiral That Points to the Sky
Nothing prepares you for the Malwiya. From the flat banks of the Tigris at Samarra, a spiral of brick rises fifty-two metres into the air - a ramp that coils around itself nine times, built in the ninth century for the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil. Climb its seven hundred steps, and the whole of the Mesopotamian plain unfolds below: the great mosque at your feet, the river bending to the south, and Baghdad a whisper on the horizon.
Why It Matters
The Malwiya is a reminder of what the Abbasid age actually was. While Europe slept through its early-medieval winters, Samarra was the largest city on earth, and the House of Wisdom in Baghdad was translating the world's knowledge into Arabic. The minaret is not a relic of that age. It is its exclamation mark.
Beside the minaret, the ruins of the Great Mosque of Samarra still sprawl across seventeen hectares - one of the largest mosques ever built. For a traveller, the visit is an hour in the presence of scale.
"The spiral is said to have been inspired by a ziggurat, or perhaps by a tower built by the wind itself." - an old guide's story, Samarra
On the Practical Side
- Getting there: Samarra is a comfortable day trip from Baghdad - about ninety minutes by private car on the modern road.
- Best time: late afternoon, when the brick turns rose in the setting sun.
- Combining it: the Central Iraq leg of the Mesopotamia Odyssey pairs Samarra with Ctesiphon's arch in a single day.
