Al-Rasheed Street

Al-Rasheed Street or Al-Rashid Street (Arabic: شارع الرشيد, romanized: Shari' al-Rashīd) is one of the main streets in downtown Baghdad, Iraq. Named after Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid, it is one of the most significant landmarks of the city due to its political, spiritual, urban, cultural, and artistic history. Located near al-Maidan Square, the Street is considered an important urban heritage site of Baghdad and bears witness to what Iraq has gone through in terms of political events, security unrest, and popular protests that Iraq saw over the course of more than a century. The street includes many ancient landmarks such as Haydar-Khana Mosque. In recent years, the street started to suffer severely from neglect and destruction but efforts and campaigns to rehabilitate the street were outlined.

Historically, the street has gone by many names. Al-Rasheed Street is considered a symbol of transformation of Baghdad due to the many changes the city has seen through the last century. The street has been compared to various notable streets around the world such as the Champs-Élysées in Paris, the Muhammad Ali Street in Cairo, and the Hamra Street in Beirut due to their artistic, historic and influential significance. The street has also been suggested to be enlisted on UNESCO's World Heritage Site due to its history and significance and many efforts were done to get it enlisted and was observed as the main historic avenue and commerce area of Baghdad in the past.