Samarra

Map showing Samarra nearBaghdad

Sāmarrā(Arabic:سامراء) is atowninIraq.It is on the east bank of theTigrisin theSalah ad Din Governorate,125 km north ofBaghdad.In 2003, the town had anestimatedpopulationof 348,700 people.

Samarra is a city ofcultureand heritage. Samarra is home to the Malwiya Mosque Minerat. In 836CE,theAbbasidCaliphAl-Mu'tasimfounded a new capital at the banks of the Tigris. Here he built extensive palace complexes surrounded by garrison settlements for his guards, mostly drawn fromCentral AsiaandIran(most famously theTurks).