Baghdad’s Victory Arch: The (re-) Construction of Triumph

Van de Ven, Annelies [UCL]

My paper discusses Saddam Hussein’s Victory Arch in Baghdad as a reconceptualization of the traditional triumphal arch, assessing its adaptation of practices like spoliation and concepts of militarism to the context of late 20th Century Iraq. The triumphal arch is a monument type we mostly associate with the Roman Empire. Erected in the great cities of the ancient world, these structures symbolized Roman military superiority and the expansionist underpinnings of their rule. Even after the decline of Roman rule, these arches continued to stand for the power and prestige of the emperor, his domination of the spaces of empire and his subjugation of foreign enemies. It is in this capacity that the arch has been able to be re-appropriated by modern rulers, attempting to make their mark in historic memory. One such re-interpretation of the triumphal arch is the Victory Arch of Saddam Hussein. Though it may not bear much physical resemblance to its Roman forebearers its function and symbolism is not so far removed as one might think.