<span style="color: #222222;">The ancient Mesopotamian city of Babylon has been declared a Unesco World Heritage Site. Iraq has been lobbying since 1983 for the 4,000-year-old site to be added to the UN's prestigious list.<br />” <br />” Announcing its decision, Unesco today said the seat of successive empires, under rulers such as Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon represents the expression of the creativity of the Neo-Babylonian Empire at its height.<br />” <br />” The city's association with one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World — the Hanging Gardens — has also inspired artistic, popular and religious culture on a global scale. It also warns that the site is in an &quot;extremely vulnerable condition&quot; and in need of urgent conservation.<br />” <br />” The city was famous for its Hanging Gardens, which were among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.<br />” <br />” The site has suffered in recent years – first from the construction of a palace for Saddam Hussein, and later from being used as a base for US troops.<br />” <br />” The UN World Heritage Committee met in Azerbaijan to decide on the latest sites to be given the honour – awarded to areas or landmark considered important for the whole of humanity and protected by international treaties.<br />” <br />”<br />”Iraq has welcomed the designation, seeing it as a recognition of the significance of Babylon and Mesopotamian civilisation.</span><br />