- Santa Barbara County Courthouse (Wikipedia)
The Santa Barbara County Courthouse (Courthouse) is a well-known example of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture and is located in Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County, California. Started in 1926 and completed in 1929, the Courthouse originally served as Santa Barbara County’s (County) superior courthouse, jail, and administrative office. The Courthouse was included on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981, was made a City of Santa Barbara Historic Landmark in 1982, a California Historical Landmark in 2004, and a National Historic Landmark in 2005. Over the years, most County administrative offices were relocated to other County buildings. The current Courthouse houses six County Superior Court rooms, the Mural Room (formerly the Supervisors Assembly Room), the County Hall of Records, the County Public Defender’s Office, offices of the County General Services Department, and the McMahon Law Library. The Courthouse is open to the public and is a popular site for community gatherings and weddings. Architect Charles Willard Moore called it the “grandest Spanish Colonial Revival structure ever built,” and the prime example of Santa Barbara’s adoption of Spanish Colonial as its civic style.
- Iraq (Wikipedia)
Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia and in the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. With a population of over 46 million, it is the 14th-most populous country on the Asian continent and the 33rd-most populous country in the world. It is a federal parliamentary republic that consists of 18 governorates. The country is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest, and Syria to the west. The capital and largest city is Baghdad. The Iraqi people are diverse, with similarly diverse geography and wildlife. As part of the Arab and Muslim world, most Iraqis are Muslims – minority faiths include Christianity, Yazidism, Mandaeism, Yarsanism, and Zoroastrianism. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish; others also recognized in specific regions are Turkish (Turkmen), Suret (Assyrian), and Armenian.
