What is Samarra?
[[File:Irak umkreis bagdad.png|thumb|250px|right|Map showing Samarra near [[Baghdad]]]] '''Sāmarrā''' ({{lang-ar|سامراء}}) is a [[town]] in [[Iraq]]. It is on the east bank of the [[Tigris]] in the [[Salah ad Din Governorate]], 125&nbsp;km north of [[Baghdad]]. In 2003, the town had an [[estimate]]d [[population]] of 348,700 people. Samarra is a city of [[culture]] and heritage. Samarra is home to the Malwiya Mosque Minerat. In 836 [[Common Era|CE]], the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]] [[Caliph]] [[Al-Mu'tasim]] founded a new capital at the banks of the Tigris. Here he built extensive palace complexes surrounded by garrison settlements for his guards, mostly drawn from [[Central Asia]] and [[Iran]] (most famously the [[Turkic peoples|Turks]]). {{geo-stub}} {{authority control}} [[Category:Cities in Iraq]]