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Frank Lloyd Wright's Unbuilt Plan for Greater Baghdad

posted on: Jun 18, 2025

Greater Baghdad
An image of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Plan for Greater Baghdad. Source: Wikimedia Commons (fair use)

By: Ralph I. Hage / Arab America Contributing Writer

In the mid-20th century, Iraq stood on the brink of transformation. Flush with newfound oil wealth, the Iraqi government under King Faisal II embarked on a grand modernization effort aimed at reshaping Baghdad into a global cultural hub. One of the most ambitious – but ultimately unrealized – projects of this era was architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s ‘Plan for Greater Baghdad.’ Conceived in 1957, the plan proposed a monumental redesign of the city’s cultural landscape, blending modernist architecture with elements inspired by Iraq’s deep historical and artistic traditions. Though never built, Wright’s vision offers a compelling look into what could have been a dramatic architectural and cultural landmark in the heart of the Middle East.

A Vision Rooted in Oil-Fueled Optimism

Greater Baghdad
Frank Lloyd Wright, 1957. Source: Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

The project took shape during a period of optimism and investment in Iraq. Following a renegotiation of its oil concessions in 1952, Iraq began receiving a significantly larger share of oil profits. These revenues enabled King Faisal II’s administration to form the Development Board, a governmental body tasked with channeling funds into national infrastructure and modernization efforts, including education, housing, and culture.

As part of this push, the Board allocated a significant portion of its budget to the construction of public buildings. To give Baghdad a modern, international flair, the government extended invitations to prominent architects worldwide to design an opera house. Among the most enthusiastic respondents was the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who was turning ninety and had recently completed the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. 

Initially commissioned to design only an opera house in central Baghdad, Wright’s vision quickly expanded after he visited the city in May 1957. Rather than situate his design within the dense urban fabric, Wright selected a small, undeveloped island on the Tigris River – which he later called ‘the Isle of Edena,’ after the biblical Garden of Eden – as the focal point of a much larger master plan that would redefine Baghdad’s cultural and educational core.

This plan incorporated not only the opera house but also a museum, art gallery, post office, bazaar, and a monumental spiral structure. The design of the spiral was reminiscent of Baroque architect Borromini’s Church of Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza in Rome. However, Wright’s version featured camel riders ascending towards a statue of the caliph. These camels weren’t the only nod to traditional Arab imagery in Wright’s proposal; his design for the opera house also featured a statue of Aladdin at its peak. The architect expressed his excitement about working in Baghdad by telling King Faisal II that the Arabian Nights had been among his favorite childhood stories. 

This admiration for traditional Arab culture may have seemed somewhat mismatched with the King’s vision, which leaned toward a modern capital rather than one steeped in orientalist and outdated references to Arab heritage. Still, Wright managed to gain Faisal II’s support.

Designing a New Cultural Heart for Baghdad

Greater Baghdad
Baghdad Street Scene, 1958. Photo credit: Don Christie, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Wright’s plan centered on transforming the Isle of Edena into a grand cultural district, linked to both banks of the Tigris by two architecturally striking bridges. One bridge would connect the island to the west side of Baghdad, aligned with a ceremonial esplanade and facing Mecca. The second, a more prominent structure known as the ‘Great Bridge,’ would link the island to a proposed university campus on the river’s eastern bank.

The Opera House and Cultural Complex

The crown jewel of the island would have been a massive opera house capable of seating up to 7,000 people. The design was marked by a dramatic proscenium arch known as the ‘crescent rainbow,’ a feature that extended from inside the theater into an adjacent reflecting pool. This arch was to be decorated with colorful images inspired by tales from ‘One Thousand and One Nights,’ blending storytelling with architecture.

Atop the structure, Wright envisioned a golden statue of the fictional character Aladdin holding his lamp. At the same time, a tall spire – symbolizing the Sword of the Prophet Muhammad – would rise beside it. Surrounding the opera house, Wright proposed a collection of art galleries, landscaped gardens, and shopping areas, all designed to evoke an immersive cultural experience.

Baghdad University’s New Home

Wright’s vision didn’t stop with the island. Across the Tigris, he proposed a bold redesign for Baghdad University. The campus would be circular in shape, with an earthen barrier acting as a structural and symbolic perimeter. Inside this boundary, the space was reserved for pedestrian walkways, green areas, and fountains.

The university’s academic buildings would line the interior edge of this barrier. At the same time, the central space would be dominated by a media hub featuring television and radio towers—a nod to Iraq’s aspirations to become a modern, media-savvy nation.

One of the plan’s most controversial elements was a colossal 300-foot gilded statue of the Abbasid Caliph Haroun al-Rashid, situated at the northern end of the island. Inspired by the spiral minaret of the Great Mosque of Samarra, the statue was envisioned as a helical tower with camels climbing its sides, celebrating Baghdad’s golden age during the Islamic Golden Era. A wide boulevard was to stretch from the statue to the opera house, flanked by art museums, shops, and public gardens.

From Dream to Dissolution

Despite initial excitement, the political tides in Iraq soon shifted. In July 1958, the monarchy was overthrown in a military coup led by General Abd al-Karim Qasim. King Faisal II was assassinated, and the new republican government began reassessing many of the previous regime’s modernization projects.

Wright’s grandiose plan, with its opulent monuments and luxurious facilities, was seen as out of touch with the immediate needs of the Iraqi population. The new government viewed such extravagance as inappropriate in a nation still struggling with poverty and basic infrastructure challenges.

As historian Robert Twombly put it, the new leadership believed Iraqis needed “food, clothing, and shelter more than floating gardens, gold fountains, and a mammoth zoo.” The cultural project was ultimately shelved, and Wright, who had invested significant creative energy into the plan, passed away less than a year later. Baghdad University was eventually designed by another famed modernist architect, Walter Gropius, though in a more restrained and practical style.

An Enduring Legacy of Cultural Dialogue

Although the Plan for Greater Baghdad was never realized, it remains one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most unusual late-career proposals. It stands as a rare example of a Western architect integrating local cultural symbols into a modernist design language. From the stories of ‘One Thousand and One Nights’ to Islamic architectural motifs, Wright sought to fuse Iraq’s storied past with his unique architectural vision.

Knowing this, critics have debated the cultural appropriateness of Wright’s design. Some view elements like the Aladdin statue and the Harun al-Rashid monument as orientalist and kitschy, while others interpret them as an earnest—if flawed—attempt to engage with the rich heritage of Mesopotamia.

Legacy

Greater Baghdad
Gammage Auditorium, Arizona State University. Photo credit: Ken Lund, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

While a few of Walter Gropius’s designs found their way into reality under the new regime, Wright’s grand plans were scaled back and recycled into a different project, the Gammage Memorial Auditorium at Arizona State University in the United States. If you ever do visit it, you can imagine what somebody in 1960s Iraq would have felt had Wright’s dream woken up to Baghdad instead.

Ralph Hage is a Lebanese American architect who divides his time between Lebanon and the United States.

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