Babylon, once the world's largest city

Babylon sits in the fertile valley between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the birthplace of a succession of ancient Mesopotamia civilizations in what is now the country of Iraq. Under Saddam Hussein's fateful rule, the ruins at Babylon were partially destroyed by the construction of a palace for Hussein at the site. During the Iraq war, US troops constructed "Camp Alpha" on a portion of the site, to much criticism. Subsequently, the World Monuments Fund and others have been working to protect and restore the site.

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The preservation warriors: saving the past for the future

By Lee Lawrence

The Christian Science Monitor

December 3, 2016