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Restoration work will begin at the site of Mosul’s iconic al-Nuri mosque in the first half of 2020, UNESCO director general Audrey Azoulay told Iraq’s culture minister and the governor of Nineveh on Wednesday.
According to a statement from UNESCO, Azoulay met with Abdulameer al-Hamdani, Iraq’s minister of culture, and Mansour al-Mareed, the governor of Nineveh, on September 11.
“She [Azoulay] indicated that consolidation work on the remaining structures and demining of the mosque and minaret site is expected to be completed in the coming weeks, and reconstruction could begin in the first half of 2020,” the statement read.
The main aim of the meeting was to “review the progress of the project ‘Revive the Spirit of Mosul’,” a flagship UNESCO initiative launched in February 2018 to breathe cultural life back into Mosul’s historically rich Old City, which bore the brunt of Islamic State (ISIS) violence.
“We are committed to working together. We agreed on a solid timetable and action plan,” Azoulay was quoted as saying.
The initiative centers on the rebuilding of al-Nuri mosque, built in the 12th century during the Turkic Zengid dynasty that ruled over parts of modern-day Iraq and Syria. The mosque was famous for its leaning al-Hadba minaret, a symbol of the city featured on Iraqi banknotes.
The mosque became infamous as the site where ISIS founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the founding of the group’s caliphate in July 2014.
The mosque was demolished during the Mosul Offensive when Iraqi and coalition forces battled to retake the city. Control was wrested from the group in June 2017.
In April 2018, the United Arab Emirates, UNESCO, and Iraq finalized a $50.4 million deal to reconstruct the mosque. The reconstruction project was later expanded to include the rebuilding of the nearby Al Saa and Al Tahira Churches.
“Mosul was the symbol of diversity and tolerance before the conflict. The spirit of Mosul is an example and an objective for the rest of Iraq,” the UNESCO director-general said.
“The needs are considerable, but with the help of UNESCO and the international community, we can meet the challenge. We will work as a united team,” said culture minister Hamdani.
The mosque’s new cornerstone was laid in December 2018.
A UNESCO in Iraq team met with the Director of Northern Regional Center for Explosives, the Director of Mines and Explosives Section, and antiquities representatives to discuss “demining activities at the Al-Nouri mosque site” on September 10.
Hamdani also met with Charles Personnaz, director of France’s National Heritage Institute, and the Switzerland-based International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Zones (ALIPH) to discuss further international assistance to the project.
“The meeting included the discussion of the case of reconstruction of the Mosul museum and heritage buildings in Old Mosul due to their great importance in forming the mosaic of civil society, as they date back to a number of historical eras, religious and ethnic components,” a Ministry of Culture statement read.
The war against ISIS in Mosul left much of the city destroyed. With ISIS defeated in Mosul in July 2017, attention turned to reconstruction of its ravaged historical landmarks.
Mosul’s Old City bore the brunt of the fighting. Much of it remains in uninhabitable ruin, with many of the residents displaced by ISIS-era violence either remaining in IDP camps, or returning to camps after short-lived attempts to make the Old City home once more.
The Old City’s ruins are riddled with deadly mines, whose painstaking removal has slowed down the reconstruction process.
The minister of culture said the launch of reconstruction projects “will send a message of assurance to the children of Mosul city”.
Revive the Spirit of Mosul’s stated aims also include the fostering of “resilience, cultural identity, social cohesion and inter-community reconciliation through the creation of job opportunities and the development of youth skills among IDPs/returnees of the Old City’s local communities”.
