Now THAT's what I call adaptive re-use

You probably haven't heard of Erbil in Iraq (I hadn't). But it might be the longest continually-occupied site in the world.

"The thing about Erbil is that it is, in fact, a living town," Dr. Gibson said. "It goes back at least to 5,000 B.C.," he said. "It might go back further."

Some estimates put the town's beginnings as far back as 9,300 B.C.

Read the whole thing, especially the part about the Frenchman displaying avant-garde paintings in an ancient bath next to a mosque. Some hope to make Erbil the Kurdish Soho.