The role of religious monuments in restructuring the movement systems in the Wadi Al-Salam cemetery

Abstract

The holy city of Najaf is a shrine for Muslims from all over the world due to the presence of the Holy Shrine of Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib, the cousin of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUTh), and the Wadi Al-Salam, the Valley of Peace, cemetery, which includes shrines to many Prophets, righteous people, scholars and righteous martyrs. The Holy Shrine of Imam Ali (PBUH) is the most prominent monument, being the factor around which the urban fabric of the city was formed and established. The form of the cemetery has thus developed with the urban fabric of the city, and it includes many religious monuments that attract thousands of visitors and pilgrims from both within and outside of Iraq. Due to this cumulative growth of the cemetery and the irregularity of its axes of movement, the movement of visitors inside the cemetery has produced several design, planning, and security challenges as it has begun to affect the urban fabric of the city and the cemetery itself. Movement and visual interconnections between vital monuments of the religious figures have thus been restricted by the fabric of the Wadi al-Salam Cemetery at both micro and macro levels, generating the current research problem. Accordingly, this research aims to set to explore the possibility of restructuring the movement system of the Wadi Al-Salam Cemetery based on its monuments. The research assumes that the texture of the cemetery can resemble the fabric of the city in terms of adopting the presence of religious monuments to structure spaces. Consequently, the importance of monuments in terms of defining systems of pedestrian and vehicle movement within the fabric of the city was studied to determine the list of indicators classifying the possibilities provided by such monuments according to their historical and religious significance. With regard of the cemetery, several monuments of historical, religious, and contextual significance were then chosen as key points in the restructuring of the local movement systems. The overall research conclusion is that it is important to reconnect these monuments by developing an organic network of movement in order to preserve the graveyards and the historical fabric of the cemetery.