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Nowruz celebrations in Akrê, Kurdistan
Newroz or Nowruz (meaning “New Day”) is the New Year’s Day in the Persian calendar. The festival of Nowruz is celebrated for a variety of reasons. In Kurdistan they tell the legend of a king that used to treat his people so bad that a person was sent to assassinate him. After the king was […]
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The former US embassy in Tehran, Iran
Recently, I was taking a stroll around central Tehran, when I found out by accident, that the former US embassy site, which was the focus of the world for 444 days during a hostage crisis, has been turned into a public museum! This is the first time since the embassy was stormed by students 38 […]
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The Jewish cemetery of Khartoum, Sudan
Very close to the central bus station, south of Souq al-Araby, Khartoum still has a tiny Jewish cemetery. The graveyard features no more than maybe 40-50 graves, many of them are in dire shape. The cemetery is located in an area of Khartoum that has a lot of car workshops. The workshops use the cemetery […]
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Lalish – Yazidis’ home
I recently visited Lalish, the center of the Yazidi religion that came to fame after the Islamic state persecuted the approximately 650.000 members of this ancient religion in Iraq. Lalish can be easily visited from Duhok with a taxi, it takes about 30 to 40 minutes to get there. The valley is especially beautiful and […]
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First Screening of “Bilder Krieg – Picturing War” in Germany
On Saturday, Konstantin Flemig showed his movie “Bilder Krieg – Picturing War” for the first time to a German audience. The movie was screened at the venues of the Sprechsaal in Berlin Mitte, where the War Zone Freelance Exhibition is currently showing their photos. One of the founders and exhibitors, Benjamin Hiller, is also the […]
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Qalaat El Hosn near Majdal Anjar
In the Lebanese border town of Majdal Anjar there is not much to see except for the Lebanese-Syrian border crossing not even a kilometre away. But the city has a hill that can be seen from far, and if you dare to drive your car through the small alleys of this town, you’ll find yourself […]
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Oscar Niemeyer Fair in Tripoli, Lebanon
Last weekend I visited Tripoli in Northern Lebanon again, this time to take a full afternoon and admire the beauty of Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer’s legacy in Lebanon. Niemeyer built a fair for the city, and construction was about to be finished within the next years, when the civil war in Lebanon started and halted […]
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The Jewish cemetery of Beirut, Lebanon
Welcome to the Jewish cemetery in Beirut, Lebanon. Many visitors of Beirut would never think that this city actually has a very old Jewish cemetery, which is located right on Sodeco square near the district of Ashrafiyeh. The cemetery is closed off to the public since many years, but it is possible to see some […]
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Baalbek, Lebanon
The city of Baalbek (Arabic: “بعلبك“) in Lebanon is situated right in the heart of the Bekaa valley. Baalbek is a predominantly Shia city with roughly 80.000 inhabitants. Most foreign visitors visit Baalbek for its massive Roman ruins. The city is a stronghold of Hezbollah and features one of the country’s most beautiful mosques, called […]
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The ruins of Anjar, Lebanon
The city of Anjar, or “عنجر” in Arabic, is situated in the Beqaa valley, not even ten kilometres away from the border to Syria. Anjar used to be a big city during the Umayyad period, and has been preserved as a UNESCO world heritage site since 1984.