BAGHDAD -
After her divorce from her first husband, British novelist Agatha Christie (1890-1976) traveled to the East, where she met her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan in 1930 and lived with him in Syria and Iraq. Fluency, wild imagination, and exciting characters.
The "Queen of Crime Literature" moved with her husband between the cities of Iraq, and officially joined the British excavation mission in Nineveh (northern Iraq) and then the Al-Arbajiyeh mission in Mosul in 1932, which was headed by her husband, and she struggled to write in remote archaeological sites, but her home in Baghdad is far from the noise The excavation and archaeological life remained the best place to write her amazing novels.
The activist in the “Tower of Babel” organization for the protection of heritage, Zikra Sarsam, says that “decades after the departure of the British writer Agatha Christie, her house in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, is still alive, overlooking the banks of the Tigris River, where he continued to struggle with neglect and time between many houses that were removed due to the construction of the Al-Sinak Bridge. and the Mansour Melia Hotel.
Sarsam looks at the huge house sad and worried about the idea of losing it, because it is for sale by its owners, but the Baghdad Municipality imposes - within its laws - important conditions to preserve its survival as part of the identity and heritage of the capital.
Al-Baghdadi's house
On a balcony overlooking the Tigris River in "Karada Maryam" (one of the oldest areas of the capital, Baghdad), the author of the works - the best-selling ever according to the Guinness Book of Records - was sitting to write her memoirs, from the heart of the house she lived with her husband, the British archaeologist Max Mallowan for not a little while, It was their resting place after archaeological excavations in northern and southern Iraq.
After more than 75 years of living in it, this house is today for sale, and it is an artifact threatened with extinction, and warning phrases are written on its walls for passersby;
It did not receive any restoration or maintenance during all these decades, and some families inhabited it on successive periods of rent, before its owners decided to close it and offer it for sale.
heritage house
Activist Sarsam says that this house "is considered private property, but it is registered in the Heritage Department, and according to the law it cannot be demolished, and the law requires the Ministry of Culture to provide facilities and spend money to restore these houses, but the ministry does not commit to the lack of budgets," as it turned out. Al Jazeera Net.
Sarsam - who lives next to the house - explained that it had already been sold a short time ago, but the buyer returned it to its owners after learning about the special laws under which it is subject to its archaeological value and its proximity to the river.
Although the law attempts to protect these ancient houses, Dhikra Sarsam fears “that some individuals circumvent the conditions in several twisted ways, such as pumping water into these dilapidated houses, or demolishing a small back part, to ensure their demolition without self-efforts to be held accountable for it, to appear As if it collapsed on its own, to turn it into shopping centers or restaurants,” according to Sarsam.
"We are afraid that the same will happen with the house of Agatha Christie, which I live near, where many old neighbors told me that the house was also at one time a school."
Sarsam found that the British writer mentioned this house in most of her books on Iraq, because of her strong attachment to it, and because it was an inspiration for the years of her literary life, as it was full of inspiration during her break from working with her husband and his excavation missions.
The facade of the ancient house of the writer Agatha Christie in Baghdad (Al-Jazeera)
Agatha Christie in Iraq
For many years, Christie accompanied her husband, archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan, in excavations in Iraq, and Christie used this exciting adventure in many of her novels, the most famous of which is "A Crime in Mesopotamia," as explained to Al Jazeera Net, archaeologist Junaid Amer.
Amer says, "After her first divorce, the mystery and suspense novelist made a trip to Baghdad in 1928, when she was 39 years old, and although she initially only intended to visit West India, meeting two friends who returned from Baghdad had the effect of changing her destination."
"Christie traveled on the Orient Express, the train that takes passengers to Baghdad via Milan and Istanbul, and this trip became the turning point in Christie's life. The next day she canceled her ticket to the West Indies, bought a new one for Baghdad, and went straight there."
The house of the writer Agatha Christie in Baghdad written warnings of falling (Al-Jazeera)
Between Ur, Nineveh and Baghdad
After a few days she spent in the Iraqi capital, Christie went to the capital of the Sumerian state (Ur), and mentioned her love for this city in her autobiography, until she returned to it again, to meet Max Mallowan, and he was the assistant of the British prospector Leonard Woolley, where they got to know each other, and after 6 Months later, the archaeologist, who was 13 years her junior, became her second husband.
Christie spent long seasons in various excavation sites in Syria and Iraq with her husband's missions, and worked on restoring pottery pieces, inventorying and photographing artifacts, and cleaning them with her own tools, as she treated these antiquities with pure love, says Amer.
And he added, "She was known at the time of the excavation for her talent for photography, and she mastered it a lot, and many of the effects that we knew through photos were taken by her."
Inspiration of Iraq's civilizations
“The destinations of archaeological research with her husband did not constitute any obstacle to her writing. On the contrary, when her husband was working near Nineveh in Mosul, Christie wrote her famous novel “A Murder on the Orient Express” in 1934, and it was inspired by the trips she took on this train towards Baghdad.
Mesopotamia was a fertile ground for her imagination, and so were her husband's excavation tools, especially her house overlooking the Tigris River. As the archaeologist Junaid Amer explains.
And he continues, "She mentioned in her biography how she loved this house located in the "Karada Mariam" neighborhood, which was built in the Turkish style. She even said in her biography that people were surprised by her and her husband's love for a house of this huge size, and their refusal to live in a modern house, the house was refreshing. It's less hot, and it's more relaxing."
Jabra Ibrahim Jabra at home
Amer explains that this house was visited by a number of important guests, most notably the late Palestinian writer Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, and this architectural masterpiece also had a share of the lines of the creative writer in his book "Princess Street";
He talks about an invitation he received from Max Mallowan, describing it as one of the most beautiful houses of the Ottoman era.
Jabra Ibrahim Jabra describes the beauty of this house in his book "The Princesses Street", saying, "The courtyard is surrounded by trees in the middle of a two-storey building, from which one climbs to the top by an external wooden staircase that leads to a long narrow balcony that extends with the interior facade."
Adventure with Mesopotamia
Agatha Christie mentioned Iraq in 4 books, including two novels: "A Rendezvous in Baghdad" and "A Crime in Mesopotamia", and it was also published under the title "Crime in Iraq". Documented and transcribed on paper in the house of the excavations mission to the city of Nimrud in Mosul, and in Baghdad.
For his part, the Director of Media at the Antiquities and Heritage Authority, Hakim Al-Shammari, states that this house - even if it is offered for sale - is protected by the Antiquities Authority, which categorically refuses to demolish these houses or tamper with their external appearance, and the new owner must follow the controls.
Hakim Al-Shammari: The Commission refuses to demolish heritage houses or tamper with their external appearance (Al-Jazeera)
Al-Shammari added, "Individuals have the right to repair and repair the facades and interiors of houses in a way that ensures that the real features of the building are not damaged or changed. Otherwise, the restoration process stops, and the house is withdrawn directly."
Al-Shammari confirms that the Heritage Authority preserves dozens of important houses, inhabited by prominent Iraqi personalities, such as the house of Sasson Heskel, the first minister of finance in Iraq, the house of the writer Abdul Majeed Al-Shawi, the house of the Prime Minister during the royal era, Tawfiq Al-Suwaidi, located on Haifa Street in the capital, Baghdad, and others The houses that have preserved their history and the memory of their owners.