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City in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq
Photo: Diyar Muhammed, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Sulemania (Kurdish: سلێمانی) was founded in 1784 by Ibrahim Pasha Baban, a Kurdish prince, to be the capital of his principality. Since then it has been Iraqi Kurdistan’s cultural capital and home to philosophers, poets and writers. Its importance is not limited to Iraq, but for the whole of the Kurdistan region, which also encompasses parts of Turkey, Syria and Iran.
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Slemani Museum
Second biggest museum after the national museum in Baghdad. It is home to many Kurdish and ancient Persian artifacts dating back to 1792–1750 BC. In 1961, the museum was opened in the Shorsh district, but moved to its current building in Salim Street in 1980. With an area of 6000 m², the museum has 3 halls, of which its main exhibition hall was renovated with financial assistance of UNESCO. From 1980-1988, the museum was closed to the public due to the ongoing hostilities between Iraq and Iran, but it reopened in 1990 until the invasion of Kuwait later that year when it was again closed for visitors. It was re-opened in 2000, and has served as the most important museum in Sulaymaniyah to date. Its collection comprises many artifacts that had been seen in the Baghdad museum, which were looted during the Iraq invasion of the United States of America and bought by the Sulaymaniyah Museum to help recover and return them.
مۆزەخانەی ئەمنە سوورەكە
Kurdish for "Red Intelligence Museum", located in a former Ba'ath intelligence headquarters and prison, it draws particular attention to the Ba'ath regime's brutal treatment of local Kurds. Visitors are guided through the prisons and interrogation rooms. The museum features many Soviet-era armored fighting vehicles.
مۆزەخانەی کەلەپووری کورد
Open year-round, it displays the works of the artists of the city. It is run by "Rostam Aghala", a well-known modern Kurdish artist.
Another place for artistic activities. It started the night cinema project where people can go to watch Kurdish and foreign films.
A few minutes walk from the bazaar. It is huge and has a giant mast with the Kurdish flag fluttering. Here you can enjoy amazing views of Azmar mountain and there are some small olive groves, playgrounds, artificial lakes and a lot of young couples doing things their parents would not be too happy about, like hugging in public.
Despite the unfortunate name, this is an impressive theme park with various rides, a cable car to the mountain top and an aqua park. The top of the mountain has a restaurant. There are also many cafés in the park. Entry costs IQD3000 with rides costing extra. Entry and a ride on the cable car will cost IQD6000. Chavy Land is also often shown as Chavi Land.
Few corners of the earth escape the reach of the ubiquitous Irish Pub. Reasonably extensive food menu alongside the drink offerings.
One of the only places in town with non-instant coffee. They have a sign in Latin characters, and there is usually a crowd of coffee drinkers in front. Serves good espresso and they have bulk coffee (28,000 for a kilo of Columbian beans) and coffee makers in styles unavailable elsewhere.
For now, this is the best hotel in town, although it is by no means up to international standards. Nevertheless, it's a decent enough experience.
Described as a 5* hotel on the eastern side of the city. It is however a very good 4* with nice indoor/outdoor pool and spa centre. The bars serve alcohol.
Darin Group is in partnership with Halabja Group in Family Mall Sulaymaniyah project. Halabja Group has operations in general trading, international transportation, telecommunication and construction industries.A rectangularly shaped shopping gallery is connected to a central atrium with a glass dome roof. The atrium creates a visual connection between the shopping levels and brings natural light into the internal shopping corridors.
Large and modern shopping mall to the west of the city, not far from the airport. You can find international outlets such as Adidas and Pizza Hut.
By taxi
It's easy to find a shared taxi between major cities. A shared taxi from Erbil costs ca. 15,000 ID.
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Sulaymaniyah · Regional · ISU
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