Reconstruction of heritage enlivens Mosul
ABU DHABI: “Revive the Spirit of Mosul” is an initiative launched in 2018 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). The UN body says that it was a “response for the recovery of one of Iraq’s iconic cities”. Mosul endured a three-year-long occupation (2014-2017) by Daesh, ending with 80 per cent of the Old City destroyed. UNESCO says that the heritage of the Old City “reflected the interchange of values of tolerance and coexistence through many centuries”.
The Iraqi historian Omar Mohammed, Research Fellow at George Washington University, known initially as the anonymous blogger ‘Mosul Eye’, who used to inform the world about life under Daesh, stresses that Mosul is a city where Jews, Christians, Yazidis and Muslims of different sects once lived together. “A city known for its unique diversity,” he adds.
UNESCO, which affirms that Mosul has been “a strategic location due to its crossroads and bridge between north and south, east and west” for millennia, claims that the diversity in the city made it a target for Daesh. Shatered by war, a project to rebuild the city had to take all of that into consideration.
Based on three pillars – heritage, cultural life and education – “Revive the Spirit of Mosul” has been financed by 15 partners. Among them, the United Arab Emirates, which has contributed with US$50 million, and the European Union.
Initially, the UAE’S contribution to the rebuilding of the cultural heritage of Mosul was about restoring and reconstructing landmarks, such as the Al-nouri Mosque and its 45-metre Al-hadba Minaret, built more than 800 years ago. However, a year later, the UAE and UNESCO renewed their collaboration to include support for the reconstruction of Al-tahera Church, considered by UNESCO “an iconic symbol woven into the history of Mosul”, and the Al-saa Church, also known as Our Lady of the Hour Church, both built in the 19th century.
Upon signing the agreement, Noura Bint Mohammed Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Youth of the UAE, said that “we are very honoured to sign this partnership with UNESCO and the people of Iraq to take our efforts further in helping rebuild Mosul and reviving the spirit of coexistence and social cohesion”.
Years ater the launch of the initiative, Paolo Fontani, UNESCO Director in Iraq, said in a conversation with Emirates News Agency (WAM) that “the dialogue is actually there; it is happening” in a city that has always been seen as a place symbolising exchanges, different cultures and ethnicities living together.
“So that is the idea of reviving the spirit of Mosul. It is reviving the freedom of the people of Mosul and bringing back their identities by working together. It stresses that that the force of evil will not win and that culture will always remain part of our heritage,” says Fontani, adding that the reconstruction could mean a “symbol of renaissance in Iraq” and the world.
The initiative, impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, is moving towards the final stage. The head of UNESCO in Iraq reminds us that the reconstruction of Al Nouri Mosque, Al Habda Minaret, Al-saa’a Church and Tahera is ongoing. It is at varied stages, depending on the gravity of the damage. Fontani believes that most monuments will be finished by the end of 2023.
The Al Habda Minaret shall take some extra months. “We are building using the same techniques, the same material, using ways of rebuilding that will maintain the value of what we are doing,” he points out.
While the reconstruction of stones and walls takes place, society is on the way to rehabilitation, according to Omar Mohammed. The historian affirms that the recovery of Mosul is slow but moving forward. “The social fabric is recovering; it is in the process of re-developing or developing its narrative of coexistence. And in the future, the more we witness the recovery of the city’s cultural heritage sites, the more we see the social fabric geting stronger,” he declared.
Mohammed mentioned the visits in 2021 of Pope Francis and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, as important in the process of rehabilitation and expressed hope for a visit by the Minister of Culture of the UAE, Noura Al Kaabi, who, according to him, has a direct connection to Mosul and its recovery.
Years ater the city’s liberation in a batle that killed thousands, other signs confirm its rehabilitation. Paolo Fontani reminds us that the number of students enrolled at the University of Mosul has risen upon sharing a conversation with the head of the institution. “Listening to him telling me that the university before the war had 37,000 students, and now they have double that was reassuring. He told me the number of Christians or Yazidis are now in the thousands; before they were in double-digit. These diverse segments atending classes together itself is an affirmation of the revival of the harmonious spirit of Mosul,” explained the head of UNESCO in Iraq.