A walk through the architecture of Erbil, from the Citadel to the modern city — chosen and annotated by architect Aram Mizuri.
6 stops · about 2.9 km on foot
Photograph coming
Stop 01
Erbil Citadel
Built Inhabited for over 6,000 years
A mound raised by thousands of years of houses built on houses, and among the oldest continuously inhabited places on earth — a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2014. Its ring of tall house façades, joined wall to wall, is the city's first and finest piece of architecture: a whole town that works as a single defensive wall.
Inside the Citadel, in one of its traditional courtyard houses: a lesson in how the old town lived — rooms turned inward around a courtyard, thick walls against the summer heat, and the kilims and felts of Kurdish weavers on display.
At the foot of the Citadel, the old covered market: narrow vaulted lanes that stay cool and shaded at noon, trades grouped lane by lane. Notice how the roofs, openings and alleys are made for the climate long before air conditioning.
The city's main public square, opened up below the Citadel: fountains, shade and long views up to the mound. A good place to see how a historic edge and a new public space meet — and the best view of the Citadel's walls at dusk.
Also called the Choli Minaret: the surviving tower of a mosque built under Muzaffar al-Din Gökböri, ruler of Erbil. Look closely at the brickwork — an octagonal base, a cylindrical shaft and bands of patterned glazed brick, all made from small fired bricks laid with great care.
One of Erbil's largest parks, a short drive from the old centre: lakes, long avenues of trees and open lawns. It shows what landscape does for a hot, dry city — shade, water and green space where the town comes out in the evening.