The first, smaller church named for Our Lady of Sorrows was built on the same site 1843, but as the the Chaldean community grew, the new and larger church was built to accommodate approximately 2 000 people. The foundation stone was laid on March 17th, 1889, and the church inaugurated on November 27th, 1898. It is located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, in in one of Baghdad’s oldest districts, the Shorja district, of Aqd-Al-Nasara, next to a busy market. 

During the 1950s, the church's influence started to decline as the population moved out of the Aqd-Al-Nasara district to more modern parts of town.  Today, there are only but 120 Christian families left, and the church once again has the status of a church.

“Church of Mary Mother of Sorrows in Baghdad (Om Al-Ahzan).” Mesopotamia Heritage. Accessed March 6, 2021. https://www.mesopotamiaheritage.org/en/monuments/leglise-om-al-ahzane-mere-des-douleurs-de-bagdad/.  Archived at: https://perma.cc/CM6A-424N.