Also known as Bab Khorasan, it is located in the eastern side, near the shrine, mosque and tomb of Sheikh Omar Al-Suhrawardi in Baghdad. It is one of the gates of Baghdad. It was built during the reign of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Murshid Allah in the year 510. Designed to protect the city from invaders, the gates of Baghdad were connected by walls surrounding the city. The main ones were Mu’adham (North) Gate, Dhafariya (Wastani) Gate, Halaba (Talisman) Gate, and Basaliya Gate. Al Bab Al-Wastani is the only remaining one.
It is a high cylinder-shaped tower with a ground circumference of 56 meters, 14.5 meters high, crowned with an octagonal dome. On the northwest side it has a portal 3 meters wide with a pointed arch, in front of which is a bridge across the moat. On the southwest side of the tower is a door that leads to an even bigger and higher bridge over the moat. Al Bab Al-Wastani was built in bricks and gypsum mortar, which is very resilient and the most used material in Iraqi’s architecture.
