The Al-Qishla building, or what is called the "old government palace", is considered one of the heritage buildings in Baghdad dating back to the second half of the nineteenth century AD when Baghdad was a province of the Ottoman Empire.
The Turkish Governor of Baghdad, Namiq Pasha, the Great, began building this building in 1861 AD, to be the seat of the state and its official departments, and a military barracks for the Ottoman army responsible for protecting and providing the security of Baghdad, and after that, the governor Medhat Pasha completed its construction.
Its current location, adjacent to the banks of the Tigris River, was chosen from the Rusafa side in the middle of the old central region of Baghdad, where the ground on which the Qishla building is located is still rich with foundations of palaces and many sites dating back to the period of the Abbasid caliphate when Baghdad was the capital of the Islamic state.
Today, the Qishla is a meeting place for many visitors to Al-Mutanabi Street, and a place for cultural and social activities and art exhibitions.
The word Qishla is originally Turkish, and it means the place where the soldiers stay, the fortress, or the castle.