Marqad Al-Imamayn
Ali al-Hadi wa
Hasan al-Askari is a
Shiite site located in
Samarra. The shrine was built in 944 with the remains of the tenth and eleventh Shiite Imams in the shrine. The shrine stands adjacent to another shrine,
Muhammad al-Mahdi shrine, the twelfth
hidden Imam.
In 836,
al-Mutasim, 8th
Abbasid Caliph, bought land from
Christian monastery and builds a military camp. al-Mutasim calls it surra man ra'a (pleased who see), later the area was abbreviated into Samarra.
The shrine was rebuilt over the centuries with the current look of the golden dome taking place in 1905. 72,000 gold pieces cover the dome which is approximated at 20 meters wide and 68 meters high. Both of its golden
minarets are 36 meters high.
On February 22, 2006 at 6:55 A.M. Iraqi time, an explosion took place destroying the dome and subsequently severely damaging large portions of the shrine.