This festival is considered the largest Iraqi cultural event since its founding in 2011 by poet Dr. Ali Al-Shalah, head of the Babylon Foundation for Cultures, Arts, and Media (then the Mesopotamian Cultural Foundation), with the assistance of a number of writers and artists, particularly musicians, both inside and outside Iraq. He leveraged his cultural connections across the world while managing the Arab-Swiss Cultural Center in Zurich since the mid- 1990s. The festival’s vision was to bring together all arts and literature, including poetry, narrative, music, theater, cinema, fine arts, literary, intellectual, and artistic dialogues, in addition to the sober folkloric and singing activities, which were restricted at the time, especially with the spread of extremist terrorist acts that subsequently targeted the festival. The first edition was held in 2012 with special approval from the Iraqi government. Despite the country’s security conditions and its subsequent confrontation with Al-Qaeda and ISIS terrorism, the festival has managed to establish a distinct presence on the Iraqi, Arab, and international cultural scene, thanks to the robustness of its activities and the importance of its participating figures.
Terrorists have attempted to target the festival on two of its previous editions. Security forces arrested a terrorist while he was reconnoitering the festival’s event sites in 2014. The Babylon entrance checkpoint was also subjected to a major terrorist attack days before the fourth edition of the festival, leading to its postponement until after the 40th day commemoration of the victims of this tragic incident. The terrorists failed to halt this major festival because the culture of life always triumphs over the culture of death
The festival’s continued successes and its large public turnout prompted UNESCO to send two congratulatory messages, the first in its sixth edition and the second in its eighth edition. The festival has also received praise from numerous cultural and artistic figures and various institutions, both locally and regionally. The festival presented its activities in the famous historical archaeological city of Babylon, whose theaters were in ruins and a dump, especially the large theater (5000) spectators, which was completely destroyed, especially its stage. The festival team cleaned and restored it to be suitable for major artistic events. brotherhood of humanity and its cultures, in which Babylon played a major role.
The festival committee chose the period from March 21st to April 1st of each year as the annual date for the festival, that is, between Nowruz and the Babylonian New Year, Akitu, unless there is a religious date that changes the date, such as the month of Ramadan in the last session (12). The festival contributed to encouraging the launch of other cultural and artistic festivals and events in Baghdad and other Iraqi governorates, following the successes of the Babylon Festival for International Cultures and the distinguished attendance it achieved, especially in its last four sessions (9-12), where the audience of the large Babylonian theater at the opening and closing ceremonies exceeded (6000) spectators.
