Same Subject New Perspectives from Al Faw

I'm going for a different twist on this posting this time. I managed to get some new photos, and used a tripod to get some of them. I am adding a little history along with this post to.

Faw is one of 8 presidential palaces used for hunting and recreation by Baathist party members and Saddam Hussein and his family. Both sons had matching villas on the artificial lake. There were houseboats to move them around, often they would cruise the lake and take tea at one of the artificial islands.

Below a different view of the rotunda. Notice you see eight of the sixteen columns in this view.

The palace was built to commemorate the sacrifices made by the Iraqi Army in regaining the Al Faw peninsula, located in southern Iraq. In February 1986 the Iranian Army successfully captured the area as part of a plan to cut Iraqi oil export. It would take the Iraqi Army two years to recapture the lost ground. Mustard gas was targeted at approximately 8,000 to 10,000 Iranian troops during this period. Thousands of Iraqi soldiers would also die in the Faw Peninsular campaign – a true war for oil.

New view of the ceiling details.


Visitors walking into the palace are greeted with the words “Peace be to the fighters of the Faw Peninsula.”
The palace is surrounded by a lake and villa complex. The lakes are filled with fish and carp. The rumors that the lake contained bodies of victims of Hussein have not been proven – nor has the lake been drained to find out. The large “Saddam Bass” are a specially bred fish with diamond scales and a green color. (See my below article on the fauna).

This is a closer view of the top of the chandelier.


The bottom of the chandelier,


The building and construction of AL Faw complex was started in 1989 and completed just prior to Desert Storm. It was declared off limits to UN Arms inspectors in 1998 – one of the events which brought Iraq under intense scrutiny
by the US.

Excerpts from a history on Al Faw author unknown. Possibly U.S. Army Historian.

Hey Theres Something Fowl and Something Fishy- It must be the Fauna

Below feathered friends by the lake.








Look at those fish no one knows for sure what
all they have been eating in the past.







Wow there are some big ones.
Art.

Look to the Setting Sun

Each day I look to the West to watch the setting sun,
and dream of my true love.



AAE

Untitled Haiku

22 July 2006 0100hrs

Black bodies flitting wings
Dancing back, forth, up and down
Little bat eat more

AAE

Mosque

The below photographs were taken on one of my walkabouts at one of our other wonderful sights. These were taken about the 18th of June.





Everyone Take Care.
AAE tm

More from the Rotunda

It is hard not to come back to the subject of the Rotunda. I was spelling it wrong on the first couple of posts. Rotunda is correct. The below shot was taken from a counter top (no tripod at that time) I will be doing some more photos with a tripod that I finally got.



The two photos below were taken from the second level using one of the handrail posts from the stair case as a tripod. Amazing what you can do to make things work when you have to.


When I get on a computer with good photo software I might try to make these two panoramic.


Here is the second level from an interesting point of view.


You just got to love this Spiral Staircase. This is a view from the second level.


Everyone that walks into this place cannot help but look around. It is interesting to watch the people who work here as they walk in.

Everyone take care.

AAE tm

Local Art and Colour

Below is wall art done as tiles in the
building serving as our MWR building


Below are a series of images from the side of a
near the MWR.














Interesting what you find on walkabout.
These are from he month of April.
AAE tm

Sunrises.

14 July 06 0048hrs Baghdad time

I posted at least one of these in another site. These were from shots I took in March. I had to use some improvised photography methods to make these work okay. I set the camera on top of a steel post and used the ten second timer to take the shot.

Colours painting sky
Brightened transfiguration
Suns Eastern rising

AAE tm

Lake

Do you ever find yourself drawn to bodies of water? I have always loved the rivers, lakes and the ocean. There is something calming, and purifying about being by a body of water. I use to love going fishing with my parents and grandparents on the Snake River, in South East Washington. That area was a desert to, but it was always beautiful to me. I love the ocean; I was in the area of FT. Lewis, on mission and had a day of free time. I made it a point to get to the ocean, and spent hours there just walking around, taking photographs, watching the waves come in and lap at the shore.

Lake near Al Faw Palace.


10 July 06 2105hrs Baghdad time

Shining ripples flow
Sparkling in the falling light
Calm lake at sunset

AAE tm

Welcome to my vision.

Still More Details.

One of the other buildings on
our compound has some interesting
details also. Below is a cloumn
under an entry way.


Detail of the column.


Detail of the column


One of the side doors


Detail of the side door.


Part of an over hang that is done in detailed
wood panels and the arche above one of the windows.


Detail of the wood panel overhang


Detail of the arche over the window.


I will be posting yet more details another day.
AAE

Further Details

These are some more of the detailed art work
that adorns portions of Al Faw Palace.

Below is the detailed artwork at the top of the
chandelier down the middle of the spiral
staircases.


Below is a detail of a ceiling panel on the second
level of the Palace.


The above panel alternates with the panel
below all along the ceiling on the second level.


This is what that ceiling looks like.


Below is a detail from one fourth
of a ceiling light.


Below is the whole light panel set.


I will be posting further details.
AAE

Details 1

I at one time was a student of architecture, and I love to examine structures and the detailed decorations in buildings. I have had opportunity to see some interesting architecture in Iraq. What I want to say first of all is that I have not had opportunity to see any that would constitute ancient, however that, that I have seen is a representation of cultural influence. The structures in this particular area are what would be considered better that standard, because they were owned and built by rich rulers and not for the common citizens who live considerably worse.

This is an example of the decoration on the
ceiling and along the upper wall of Al Faw
Palace.


Ceiling detail from the edge of the rotunda on
main lower level of Al Faw.


Another detail from the same area mentioned
above.


Closer detail of the above item.


Ceiling trim detail from one of the main rooms
On the third level of Al Faw.


Detail of the edge of the ceiling of the rotunda
Al Faw Palace.


Columns and details of rotunda.


Closer detail of rotunda.


Closer detail of rotunda.


Two details from the exterior of a building about 10 miles from Al Faw.


Detail from building in close location to Al Faw.


There are still some structures here that I have not been able to examine yet.
If I get the chance I will and I promise to share.

Welcome to my perspective.
AAE