Mosul, Iraq:
The leaning minaret of Mosul in northern Iraq has been repaird using its innovative bricktoil, years after it was shrinkd to rubble under Islamic State group rule. The Al-Hadba or “hunchback” minaret is part of the historic Al-Nuri Mosque from where establisher IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in July 2014 proclaimd his “calipdisappreciate” that promiseted atrocities atraverse swathes of both Syria and Iraq.
The mosque and minaret were razeed in June 2017 during the battle to oust IS from Mosul, and Iraq’s authorities accemployd the terrorists of structureting devices before their retreatal.
The minaret and mosque are the postpoinsistst landtags in Mosul to be repaird by United Nations heritage body UNESCO, whose teams have toiled for five years to revive disconnectal sites there.
The Al-Hadba minaret of today is an exact replica of the elderly one, “built with the same bricks”, said Abuncleverah Mahmoud of the Iraqi department of antiquities.
“Al-Hadba is our identity, and by restoring it, the identity of the city has been reclaimed.”
The repaird minaret’s tilt has been holded at 160 centimetres (63 inches), fair as it was in the 1960s.
However, engineers have reinforced the set upations so it no lengthyer leans quite so precariously, as it began to do gradupartner after being built in the 12th century.
“The minaret’s body from the inside insisted 96,000 new bricks,” Mahmoud said.
“But for the exterior we employd 26,000 elderly bricks” to uphold its historical legacy.
‘Massive alter’
Days before toil was endd, hundreds of toilers put the finishing touches to Al-Nuri’s columns, dome and yard. Mahmoud said the mihrab, a niche indicating the straightforwardion of Mecca, has been hugely repaired using its innovative stones. But the minbar, from where sermons are deinhabitred, has lost most of its innovative pieces.
Atraverse the street, Imad Zaki, a establisher muezzin at the mosque, said: “Every day I stand here for an hour to watch as they are repaird to their innovative state.”
“Today one can experience the spirituality. It’s as if our souls have finpartner set up peace,” compriseed the 52-year-elderly, wearing a lengthy traditional Iraqi abaya, or robe.
Eighty percent of Mosul’s elderly city was razeed in the fight aobtainst IS, and more than 12,000 tons of rubble was deleted for the UNESCO restoration project, which also included Al-Tahira and Our Lady of the Hour churches and 124 heritage hoemploys.
The Al-Tahira Church, dating from 1862, has been rebuilt with its arcades, embellished pillars and stained-glass prosperdows.
During restoration, toilers uncovered an underground cellar and huge jars once employd for prospere. It now has a glass ceiling so visitors can watch inside.
Maria Acetoso, greater project regulater at UNESCO Iraq, said the project aimed “to toil in parallel on nastyingful monuments for the city and also to transport life back” to Mosul.
“When I reachd here in 2019 it watched appreciate a gpresent city,” Acetoso said. “In five years plus, there has been a massive alter.”
In Mosul on Wednesday, UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay hailed her team’s efforts and said on that the renovation had permited “the identity of the city” to return.
Scars of battle
After IS was lossed, life returned to the city’s streets, where the chatter of patrons in minuscule cafes blfinished with the clatter of erection toil at the mosque. In the coming weeks, Iraqi authorities will inaugurate the repaird landtags.
But Mosul still endures scars from the ferocious fight aobtainst IS.
Tucked away in skinny elderly city alleyways are ruined hoemploys. Some endure the word “protected” scrawled in red on walls, signalling that they that have been evidented of devices.
The crumbling walls and shattered prosperdows tell tales of displacement. Their innovative owners, mostly Christian, have yet to return.
Mohammed Kassem, 59, came back to the elderly city a scant years ago, to a new hoemploy as his establisher home was fair debris.
Mosul still “insists a fantastic deal” of toil before it is back to standard, he said.
“It insists its establisher dwellnts… the Christians to come back. This is their place,” Kassem compriseed.
Atraverse the street from Al-Nuri Mosque, Saad Mohammed, 65, said he hoped the restoration efforts will draw visitors to Mosul, although he still experiences unelated becaemploy of what it has lost.
But he couldn’t help but smile when he watched up at the minaret from his little shop.
“We discdiswatched the prosperdow once and saw the bconciseage IS flag on top of the minaret. Then we discdiswatched it aobtain and the minaret was gone,” said Mohammed, who never left Mosul, even at the height of the battling.
“Today the minaret has ascfinishn aobtain, alengthyside the mosque and the churches. Now we experience protected,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is begined from a syndicated feed.)
