Baghdad -

A monument in Iraq, the Arab world, and the Middle East has not gained as much fame and glory as the Freedom Monument in Tahrir Square in Baghdad, because it was associated with several prominent events throughout the modern history of Mesopotamia.

It is primarily associated with the establishment of the republican system in Iraq and the overthrow of the monarchy on July 14, 1958. It tells the story of workers in Iraq and their role in changing the country's regimes by virtue of the influence of the communist tide at the time. It was a great national symbol that expresses the will of the people and its categories of workers, peasants and simple employees. It is the largest and largest monument built in Iraq and the Middle East, and has remained standing tall since its inauguration in 1961 until today, despite the succession of many regimes.

The late sculptor Jawad Selim during the implementation of the Liberation Monument (communication sites)

What is strange and sad about the story of the monument is the death of the sculptor, artist Jawad Selim, several months before its inauguration. It was completed by his British wife, Lorna, who had been living with him in Baghdad since his return from studying abroad at the end of the forties.

The late architect Rifaat Al-Chadirji conveyed the idea of ​​​​the monument and assigned Qasim to Jawad Selim (Al-Jazeera)

The story of the monument

The story of the monument began when Prime Minister Abd al-Karim Qasim received a proposal to establish a monument commemorating the establishment of the republican regime in Iraq, at the beginning of 1959. Qasim contacted the well-known architect at the time, Rifat Chadirji, in order to do so. Especially since Baghdad was witnessing large demonstrations against the movements opposed to the 1958 revolution, so he was inspired by the idea of ​​the banner.

Chadirji said at the time that he wanted the monument to "symbolize all segments of the people as an expression that they are the heroine and fuel of the revolution, and that they confront any political group that wants to harm them."

Al-Chadirji (his death passed away on April 10, 2020) quickly conveyed the idea of ​​the monument and commissioned Qassem to the Iraqi plastic artist and sculptor Jawad Selim, and he was authorized to work without any political influences or previous limitations, so Selim worked and designed the monument on paper plans (Sketches) for several Interconnected statues along the 50-meter area of ​​the monument and sent them to Chadirji to show them to Qasim.

Freedom Monument, the most famous landmark of Baghdad (Al-Jazeera)

And about that, Chadirji said that he discovered that Qasim wanted to put his image inside the monument, although he did not say it literally, as he described the monument as similar to a Greek or Roman monument and we want it to symbolize Iraq, and it seems that Qasim's entourage hinted that he wanted to see himself in the monument.

Chadirji conveyed the concepts to Selim, so he left with the plans to Italy to carve them on alabaster and cast them in bronze. He was stricken with doubt and anger at Qasim’s request, so he designed the work without paying attention to that, despite the interventions of the Iraqi embassy in Rome.

The late writer and critic Jabra Ibrahim Jabra said in his book on the Freedom Monument that Jawad Salim, in the midst of his euphoria, found that attention was directed to him to embody the dream he had for many years, so he wanted to design a monument to the revolution in Tahrir Square, the largest square in Baghdad, and he was given absolute freedom of expression. which he insisted on above all.

And Jabra adds, "The most prominent feature in it is that it symbolizes the name of the square for liberation from foreign colonialism. The 'freedom' in the name of the monument was complementary and more comprehensive in its various connotations."

Al-Zaidi: The monument is a graphic epic of the stages of Iraq before, during and after the "July 14 Revolution" (Al-Jazeera)

hanging mural

Critic Dr. Jawad Al-Zaidi told Al-Jazeera Net that the monument was designed as a mural and unusually suspended, as it rises 8 meters from the ground, and also combines painting and sculpture in what is known as relief or prominent inscription, and reads as a graphic epic of the stages of Iraq before the "revolution of July 14, 1958." during and after it, from right to left, consisting of 14 sculptures).

As for the plastic artist Haider Salem, he tells Al-Jazeera Net that the mural is an architectural and sculptural work, and in terms of the material it is a combination between white alabaster as an abyssal background that reminds him of (tarma) paper, and between the copper blocks that combine rounded sculpture and prominent sculpture, concluding that relief is a compromise between what between sculpture and painting.

Salem: The mural is an architectural and sculptural work, and in terms of material it is a combination of white alabaster and copper blocks (Al-Jazeera)

According to Salem, he sees in his reading of the monument from right to left 4 groups, distributing the sculptures from the horse to the palm of the demonstrator, while the second group extends to the borders of the woman caring for the child.

And the third begins with the scene of the exit of political prisoners from their prison, and even the statue of the woman representing fertility.

The groups conclude with the theme of farming and work, as it combines the form of the worker carrying the hammer to the form of the farmer carrying the harvest or standing in front of the palm tree.

The monument starts from: the historical, the concrete, the direct, towards (the embryonic object), in order to give the recipient freedom like the one with which Selim worked, freedom as if it had landed from another planet, but it is necessarily, in the end, the result of challenges.

As for Jabra, he believes that it is "the victory of the Iraqi working class. As if the monument expresses many things that did not appear clear, but their symbols seemed clear."

Sebti: Jawad Selim traveled in 1959 to a smelter in Florence, Italy, to make sculptures for the monument (Al-Jazeera)

Attempts to demolish the monument

Some politicians tried to demolish this great artistic and patriotic edifice in previous eras, and their voices and bullets rose, as in the February 8, 1963 coup that overthrew Abdul Karim Qassem, and then the coup of the Iraqi president at the time, Abdul Salam Aref, to exclude the Baathists from power in November. 1963, but the symbol of patriotism in the monument and popular opposition, especially from intellectuals and artists, prevented this.

These calls were renewed after the US invasion of the country in 2003, claiming that art and statues are forbidden, but they did not succeed.

The artist, Qasim Sebti, indicates to Al-Jazeera Net that Jawad Selim traveled in March 1959 to a smelter in Florence, Italy, to make miniature monument sculptures, and to place his sculptures on an occasional frieze, which makes us wonder: "Was he influenced by Arabic calligraphy, or was he inspired by his idea from the friezes?" And the old Iraqi murals, or the shape of the banner, that is, the white or colored piece of cloth that the demonstrators raise and write on them slogans in support of the nascent republic?

The prince considered that the Liberation Monument constitutes the culmination of the art of Jawad Selim (Al-Jazeera)

verse

The critic, Dr. Jawad al-Zaidi, interprets the monument units as the vocabulary of a verse of Arabic poetry that is read from right to left. Each unit is a self-contained idea, but it is related to the other in a context that composes the meaning that expresses the entire monument: "Iraq's longing for freedom since ancient times."

The name of Jawad Selim was associated with the Freedom Monument, which in turn was associated with the city of Baghdad, history and art, and it was a true fairness to the artist and the art itself.

The Freedom Monument was associated with the city of Baghdad, history and art (Al-Jazeera)

The critic, Dr. Asim Al-Amir, told Al-Jazeera Net that the monument constitutes the peak that the art of Jawad Selim reached and the feat that an Iraqi artist had not achieved for centuries, and it is a work through which Selim tried to connect his art with the people who were always the source of his inspiration. In all of Jawad Selim's drawings and sculptures, We touch the depth of the relationship with people.

Jawad Selim passed away on January 23, 1961, at the age of 42, as a result of a heart attack, before the Liberation Monument saw the light. He entrusted the task of completing the monument to his British wife, Lorna Selim, and his student, artist Muhammad Ghani Hikmat, who accompanied him at work.

Jawad Selim died without darkening his eyes to see the glory of his monument, which was inaugurated on July 16, 1961.