IRAQ LAYS FOUNDATIONS FOR THE REBUILDING OF AL NURI MOSQUE
▶ UAE funds reconstruction of 12th century national treasure in Mosul, which was destroyed by ISIS
Iraq began rebuilding Mosul’s Al Nuri Mosque on Sunday in a UAE-funded project to restore the national treasure that was destroyed by ISIS last year.
The 12th century mosque and its famous leaning minaret – nicknamed Al Hadba or “the hunchback”– is depicted on Iraq’s 10,000 dinar note. It was the place from where ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi declared his “caliphate” in 2014.
On Sunday, dozens of government officials, religious leaders, UN representatives and European ambassadors gathered in front of the ruined mosque to watch the new foundations being laid.
Abdullatif Al Humayma, the head of Sunni Muslim endowments in Iraq, laid a stone with the inscription: “This cornerstone for the rebuilding and restoration of Al Hadba minaret and the Great Al Nuri Mosque was laid on December 16, 2018.”
Abu Bakr Kenaan, head of Sunni Muslim endowments in Nineveh province, told AFP that remnants of the minaret would be preserved, while other parts of the mosque would be built from scratch, along with a museum about its history and adjacent homes.
The UAE pledged $50.4 million (Dh185.1m) to rebuild the mosque, in a project expected to take five years.
The mosque’s destruction “was a moment of despair”, said Unesco Iraq representative Louise Haxthausen.
“Today as we lay the foundation stone of the Nuri mosque, we are starting a journey of physical reconstruction,” Ms Haxthausen told the gathering.
Al Baghdadi, by appointing himself caliph of the mosque in his only public appearance, had sealed the building’s fate.
In June last year, as Iraqi security forces advanced to within 50 metres of the mosque in the last days of the battle for Mosul, ISIS destroyed it.
Reluctant to suffer a symbolic defeat by withdrawing, ISIS fighters blew up the building and tried to blame it on coalition air strikes.
In the year since ISIS was defeated in the city, the mosque has been left largely as it was when fighting stopped.
A chain-link fence to keep out looters was built around the site, which is still largely rubble.
A turquoise cupola and an inscribed entrance arch are all that still stands of the 800-yearold mosque, both daubed with graffiti cursing ISIS. All that remains of the leaning minaret is its rectangular base.
The mosque takes its name from Nureddin Al Zinki, who ordered it to be built in 1172 after fighting against Crusaders and Fatimids.
Its cylindrical minaret, which featured several levels of ornamental brickwork capped by a small white dome, started to lean centuries ago. Renovations during the 1930s were overseen by a renowned local Christian stonemason.
Local legend holds that the stomemason declined payment for his work, saying: “I will get my wage from the owner of this home.”