Firdos Square

Baghdad square where Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled live on TV in 2003 — one of the defining images of recent world history.

Firdos Square in central Baghdad is an otherwise ordinary urban space that was thrust into world history by a single event: on 9 April 2003, during the US-led invasion of Iraq, the country's largest statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled here in front of live television cameras. The image of the falling dictator was broadcast worldwide and became the defining symbol of the collapse of the Ba'ath regime. Today the square functions as a normal traffic hub — no statue, no memorial. Its significance rests entirely in that single televised moment, which permanently embedded it in the collective memory of the early 21st century.