Republican Palace
Coordinates: 33°18′15″N 44°24′31″E / 33.30417°N 44.40861°E
The Republican Palace (Arabic: القصر الجمهوري al-Qaṣr al-Ǧumhūriy) is a palace in Baghdad, Iraq, constructed on the orders of King Faisal II. It was Saddam Hussein's preferred place to meet visiting heads of state. The United States spared the palace during its shock and awe raid during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, in the belief that it might hold valuable documents. The Green Zone developed around it. The palace itself served as the headquarters of the American occupation of Iraq as well as the primary base of operations for the American diplomatic mission in Iraq until the opening of the new US Embassy in Baghdad in 2009.
The Palace was commissioned by King Faisal II of Iraq in the 1950s as the new official royal residence following his planned wedding to Egyptian Princess Sabiha Fazila Khanim Sultan. The architect was J Brian Cooper of Birmingham, renowned for his modernist designs. The architect's watercolour, drawn by Lawrence Wright, shows that the palace was originally designed to be only the central section under the dome with two wings. The rest of the building, extending out from these three sections, was added under Saddam Hussein, including large bronze portrait heads on the roof. The fountain in front of the palace was part of the original design. The King would never live in the palace, as he was assassinated before his wedding in the 1958 coup. The palace was thus renamed the Republican Palace.
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