4/5 Mahmoud A. 2 years ago on Google
Kahramana is
a
fountain
located
in
Baghdad's
Sa'adoon
Street
depicting
a
scene
from
the
legend
of Ali
Baba
and
the
Forty
Thieves.
A
story
taken
from "One
thousand
and
one
night"
in
which
the
slave
girl
Marjana
outwitted
the
thieves
by
tricking
them
into
hiding
inside
jars
over
which
she
poured
hot
oil.
The
statue
was
officially
opened
in
1971
and
was
the
work
of
the
Iraqi
sculptor, Mohammed
Ghani
Hikmat.
It
has
become
one
of
Baghdad's
most
iconic
public
artworks.
In
the
aftermath
of
the
US-led
invasion
of
2003,
the
work
assumed
new
meanings
for
the
Iraqi
people.
The
cascading
water
contributed
to
the
monument's
grandeur,
but
the
water
was
turned
off
during
the
Iran-Iraq
war
and
the
fountain
fell
into
a
state
of
disrepair,
with
overgrown
verges
and
the
base
of
the
fountain
filled
with
litter.
Its
storage
jars
were
painted
green,
a
colour
that
drew
the
disapproval
of
the
sculptor.
Following
the
US-led
invasion
of
2003,
some
of
Hikmat's
work
took
on
new
meanings
and
new
political
interpretations
emerged
from
Iraq's
destruction.
At
the
time,
the
Iraqis
saw
that
the
work
represented
the
new
reality
of
their
country
and
the
number
'40'
became
charged
with
meaning.
The
Provisional
Governing
Council,
after
the
occupation,
included
forty
people,
which
came
to
symbolise
the
forty
thieves;
and
the
decisions
of
the
Iraqi
civil
administrator, Paul
Bremer,
consisted
of
53
resolutions,
with
Resolution
No.
40
referring
to
the
dissolution
of
the
Iraqi
army.
This
resolution,
which
left
some
400,000
Iraqi
soldiers
without
employment,
led
to
public
protests
and
the
Kahramana
fountain
became
a
popular
starting
point
for
public
demonstrations
and
civil
rights
campaigners.
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