Ashur, Iraq's Assyrian capital on the Tigris, has been on the Danger List since the year it was inscribed

Background

Three of Iraq's six World Heritage properties carry a second listing as well. Ashur, also written Qal'at Sherqat, was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2003 under criteria (iii) and (iv), and was placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger in the same year, 2003, the first Iraqi property to go on that list. Samarra Archaeological City followed in 2007 and Hatra in 2015. Ashur remains on the Danger List. It stands on the Tigris and was the first capital of the Assyrian empire, which makes it one of the fixed names in any Mesopotamian question alongside Nineveh, Babylon and Ur.