According to the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, it is the former home of the English novelist Agatha Christie, on the banks of the Tigris in Baghdad.
Fittingly, the abandoned house has its own mystery: why it has remained in ruins over the past century.
Christie made dozens of trips to Iraq, including one where she met her archaeologist husband, Max Mallowan, in 1930. They came to Baghdad And Murder in Mesopotamia were two of his novels set in Iraq.
As for the house, it is a heritage property controlled by the Iraqi Ministry of Culture. The Iraqi government says it is ready to make the house available to anyone wishing to restore it. It is padlocked and literally falls.
When we visited this month, there was a $200 electric bill stuffed through a hole in the door – apparently reflecting years of unpaid bills in its more recent history.
Gn world
