海角大神

More than half a century after Iraq鈥檚 monarchy was toppled in a violent coup, Iraqis are coming to grips with a controversial part of their history that some consider the country's golden age.

July 14, when King Faisel II and members of his family were killed in 1958, is celebrated as a national holiday here. Bridges and roads are named after that date.

But there are calls by some politicians to revoke those celebrations. The Iraqi post office, responding to popular demand, has issued stamps commemorating Iraq鈥檚 King Faisel and his son and grandson who later took the throne.

And at an unprecedented exhibit of photographs and royal memorabilia recently, hundreds of Iraqis came daily to marvel at a history some didn鈥檛 know they鈥檇 had, or reminisce about a more peaceful time.

Raghad al-Suhail, a university professor and writer, is too young to have known the royal family, but she peered at the photographs as if searching for old friends.

Her father, she says, was the last person to play tennis with King Faisel II before he and his relatives were shot dead by a group of Army officers. Seeing the photos makes her want to cry.

鈥淚 loved King Faisel 鈥� all my family loved him,鈥� she says. 鈥淗e made Iraq. He built Iraq鈥�. Who came after King Faisel and what did they do for us? The one who built Iraq, who said to the world, 鈥榳e have a place which is called Iraq,鈥� was King Faisel.鈥�

In the photographs, Iraq鈥檚 last king is eternally young 鈥� both the boy and the country at an age where everything seemed new and full of promise. In some photos, he poses delightedly in the new motor-cars, which were still sharing the roads with horse-drawn carriages. In others he鈥檚 a young boy playing football with his friends or fixing his bike. 聽

Faisel II was only three years old when his father, King Ghazi, was killed in a car crash. He ascended the throne when he was 18 and reigned for just five years before he was killed in the revolution that ended the British-backed monarchy.

Class differences still resonate

In an era in which Iraq鈥檚 oil industry was in its infancy, the royal family lived a life of privilege but not opulence.聽 But for some, the class differences that helped spark the revolution still resonate.

鈥淲e were dying from hunger, we had nothing, we were barefoot. Go back to the monarchy? Never! 鈥� says Baghdad resident Kadhim al-Uqali, before launching into a nationalist poem. Mr. Uqali says he was given a pair of shoes by the king after ranking first in his class.

The revolution paved the way for a republic later headed by Saddam Hussein鈥檚 Baath Party. Until Mr. Hussein was toppled in 2003, the only portrait it was safe to hang was his own.

First public display of royal life

The exhibit at a cultural center on al-Mutanabi street was the first time Iraqis have seen royal life displayed in public.

In the courtyard of the restored Ottoman-era military college, a 1932 black Rolls Royce gleams almost as brightly as it would have when it was given to King Ghazi. Next to it was a silver 1936 Mercedes presented by Hitler to the king.

Also on display were the maroon-colored royal carriages made in Britain, and, in a sign of simpler times, the Chinese bicycle that was a birthday gift from Crown Prince Abdul Elah.

In addition to the official photo exhibit, hundreds of photographs were displayed in the courtyard as a labor of love by curator Hasham Mohammed Tarrad, who hopes to turn it into a traveling museum.聽

His exhibit was the fairy tale, untarnished by the real-life ending. Although he has photos of the mutilated bodies, he refuses to display them. 聽鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 people who killed them, but politics,鈥� he says.

At the official exhibition upstairs, among glass cases of medals and silver serving ware that survived the looting of the palace in 1958, women covered in black abayas gazed at the images of Iraqi women in short skirts and low-cut ballgowns.

The commemoration received support even from those who likely never would have come to power if it hadn鈥檛 been for the revolution.

鈥淓ven now our grandfathers are proud of their reign,鈥� says Fawzi Akram, a member of the Sadr movement and a former member of parliament. 鈥淲e regret the bloodshed and the massacre of the royal family.鈥�

Baghdad鈥檚 governor, Salah Abdul Razzak, last month called on the Iraqi government to formally apologize for the massacre.

Scattered in exile

Those in the royal family who weren鈥檛 killed in 1958 were scattered in exile. Those who were close to them also fled.

Tamara Dhagastani, a family friend of King Ghazi, provided the 250 photographs in the official exhibit from her collection that she says numbers 8,000.

Her father was jailed after the revolution and the rest of the family took refuge in Jordan. On a trip to Baghdad after 2003, she went through her aunt鈥檚 photo albums.

鈥淚 sat looking at them and thought 鈥榠t really can鈥檛 be just our family鈥檚 photographs. It鈥檚 a photographic history of Iraq and what we need to do is share it with Iraqis,鈥欌�� she recalls at her home in Amman.

She recently started posting the photos on Facebook to reach out to young Iraqis.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know whether it鈥檚 because they鈥檝e been through so much misery that this looks very rosy to them,鈥� says Ms. Dhagastani. She insisted that the Baghdad exhibit include photos of the revolution. In one a group of soldiers poses amid the destruction. In another, a shoe 鈥� a symbol of contempt 鈥� hangs by the laces from a royal chair.

In Dhagastani鈥檚 living room, cats weave their way around silver-framed photos. From piles of photos stacked on tables and spilling out of bags, she pulls out images of weddings and children鈥檚 birthday parties.

鈥淓veryone of them had a story, everyone meant something,鈥� she says. 鈥淭o me to be able to hang them in Baghdad meant the world. I couldn鈥檛 believe I was bringing them to Baghdad and the people were going to see them 鈥� this family that had been forgotten for 54 years.鈥�