Several key religious monuments in Mosul, Iraq that were damaged under Islamic State (Isis) rule have been returned to their former glory and will be celebrated with a special event on Wednesday (5 February). The Al‑Nouri Mosque, Al-Tahera Church and Al-Saa’a Convent are among the sites that have been restored under Unesco’s $115 million Revive the Spirit of Mosul programme, which began in 2018.
Isis seized control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in 2014 and occupied it for three years. During this time, several battles took place between the terrorist group and Iraqi forces, leading to the deaths of thousands of civilians, mass displacement and the destruction of housing and heritage sites. Mines and other explosives were left in the wreckage when Isis were finally forced out in 2017.
The 12th-century Al Nouri Mosque, heavily damaged by fighting in 2017, has been restored by Unesco and 115 explosive devices extracted during the process. Its famous leaning al hadba (“the hunchback”) minaret, left as a stump of its former self, has been rebuilt with its unusual angle intact thanks to help from experts on the Tower of Pisa, says the Unesco senior project manager Maria Rita Acetoso. The minaret’s former 40-metre rounded shaft—featuring an internal double helicoidal staircase and decorative carved brick on the exterior—has been entirely rebuilt in brick masonry, ensuring compatibility with original materials.
Left: Left: Al Nouri Mosque before restoration. Right: the site after work has completed, with some scaffolding still in place
Before: Hadani Ditmars. After: Omar Mohammed
The Al Tahera Syriac Catholic church, opened in 1862, was also severely damaged in 2017. The work to restore it has including the commissioning of two new bells, decorated with motifs including an image of the Virgin Mary, after which the site is dedicated.
Al-Saa’a Convent, established in 1870 after the first pontifical mission sent to Mesopotamia, has been also received new bells as part of the extensive work to bring it back to life. The Dominican institution has historically served a variety of functions, housing a church, schools, a seminary, a hospital and more. It was home to an archive of ancient religious manuscripts, which was narrowly saved before the building was converted to a prison by Isis and smuggled out of the city by a priest—Najeeb Michaeel, today the Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul—and his team.
Left: The damaged Al Tahera Church. Right: The building after restoration
Before: Hadani Ditmars. After: Courtesy of Unesco
Hundreds of Ottoman houses in Mosul’s old city have also been restored.
The completion of the Revive the Spirit of Mosul programme, which has been funded primarily by the United Arab Emirates and the European Union, is a deeply symbolic milestone in the triumph of pluralism over extremism. Mosul is an ancient silk road city whose very name means “crossroads.”, and it has historically been home to people from a range of ethnicities and religious backgrounds. Unlike in many other Ottoman cities, there have traditionally been no walls separating the Jewish, Christian and Muslim quarters. Many say the city was targeted by Isis for its interfaith spirit.
Much of Unesco’s work on the Revive the Spirit of Mosul programme has drawn on the thoughts and expertise of members of the local community, and the UN body says it has trained more than 1,300 young people in traditional skills. Wednesday’s event has been labelled as “a visit from the director general [Audrey Azoulay] marking the end of construction”, and representatives from Mosul’s different faith communities will also be in attendance. The official inauguration of the sites is expected to take place later in the year.
In a statement provided by Unesco, Azoulay said: “Here, we have demonstrated the power of heritage, culture and education to recover from a crisis that many thought insurmountable.”
What challenges lie ahead for Mosul?
With the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in neighbouring Syria, ongoing regional tensions and uncertainty about the future of US aid to the region under President Donald Trump, the threat of Isis returning is making headlines. Yet the recovery of Mosul is an undeniable victory, with Unesco’s project accompanied by the wider restorations schools, hospitals, bridges and other infrastructure.
There is still work to be done, however. Yohanna Yousef Twaya, the director of the human rights NGO Hammurabi, notes that the two churches restored by Unesco are only a few of dozens that he says need repair. They are also, he adds, essentially museums at this stage. “Only 60 Christian families have returned to Mosul,” he tells The Art Newspaper from his home in the Nineveh Plain outside of Mosul—where Shiah militias are still in control. He says he hopes that the Christian faithful will return once the churches open officially.
Mosul’s historic Jewish quarter, meanwhile, still languishes in disrepair. According to the heritage expert and activist Omar Mohammed, who launched the archival platform Reviving the Jewish Memory of Mosul, this is a result of factors including historic battles over ownership and, more recently, fears that restoration work could be aligned with a “normalisation” of relations with Israel, which was made illegal under a 2022 law enshrined in the Iraqi constitution.
Still, Mohammed sees Mosul as a “model” for other shattered cities from Gaza to Aleppo.
