Ur
Ur was a major Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq.
Ur was a major Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq. Although Ur was a coastal city near the mouth of the Euphrates on the Persian Gulf, the coastline has shifted and the site is now well inland, on the south bank of the Euphrates, 16 km (10 mi) southwest of the city of Nasiriyah. The city dates from the Ubaid period c. 3800 BC, and is recorded in written history as a city-state from the 26th century BC, its first recorded king being Mesannepada.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Ur
2 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Tell al-'Ubaid
Tell al-'Ubaid also is a low, relatively small ancient Near Eastern archaeological site about seven kilometers west of the site of ancient Ur and about 17 kilometers north of ancient Eridu in southern Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate. Today, Tell al-'Ubaid lies 250 kilometers from the Persian Gulf, but the shoreline lay much closer to the site during the Ubaid and Early Dynastic periods.
7.2 km · archaeological site in Iraq · Wikipedia - 02Ennigaldi-Nanna's museum
Ennigaldi-Nanna's museum is the earliest known public museum. It dates to circa 530 BCE. The curator was Ennigaldi, the daughter of Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.
0 m · museum in Ur, thought to be the first by some historians · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
There is a UNESCO World Heritage Site called The Ahwar of Southern Iraq: Refuge of Biodiversity and the Relict Landscape of the Mesopotamian Cities. "Ahwar" translates as "marshland" and the region is listed partly for the wetlands flora and fauna. However, the listing also includes several cities of ancient Sumer.
- 01Museum of Nasiriyah
The second largest museum in Iraq, housing a large collection of Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Abbasid artifacts.
- 02Ruins of Ur
The historical city of Ur, one of the most important cities during the Sumerian era.
- 03Ruins of Tell Eridu
A smaller archaeological site containing the city of Eridu, another Sumerian city, possibly the oldest recorded city in the world.
- 04Ruins of Larsa
Ruins of the historic city of Larsa, the city peaked in its influence around 1750-1700 BC.
- 05Ruins of Girsu
Continuously inhabited from around 5000 BC to 1750 BC, Girsu was the religious capital of the state of Lagash.
- 06Nasiriyah park
A large park along the Euphrates river with restaurants, an outdoor theater and corniche.
From Wikivoyage: Ur, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
The amusement park in Nasiriyah.
From Wikivoyage: Ur, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
- 01Mandi Palace Restaurant
From Wikivoyage: Ur, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Ur
- Airports
- Basra (BSR), 156 km · Al Najaf (NJF), 198 km · Abadan Ayatollah Jami (ABD), 214 km
- Stations
- Nasiriyah International Airport, 4.2 km
- Basra → UrTrain, bus, flight, ferry and road, side by side
- Najaf → UrTrain, bus, flight, ferry and road, side by side
- Baghdad → UrTrain, bus, flight, ferry and road, side by side
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
No local-transport research exists yet for Ur
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Ur. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- 01981 km
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If you know how people move in Ur – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Ur
Ur is 18 km from Nasiriyah, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.
- Ur Tourist CityCity in Dhi Qar, Iraq3.1 km