Press release
Audrey Azoulay celebrates the return of the “Spirit of Mosul” as UNESCO reconstruction nears completion
the press kit
In February 2018, less than a year after the city's liberation, Audrey Azoulay launched the “Reviving the Spirit of Mosul” initiative. For the first time in its history, UNESCO proposed not only to coordinate but also to directly lead the reconstruction of heritage sites destroyed by war. It was an intervention of rare complexity: the Old City was 80% destroyed, empty of its inhabitants who had fled the fighting, and riddled with unexploded bombs.
Seven years later, after having mobilized more than $115 million, cleared and demined the site, conducted a vast consultation with the local community and trained more than 2,800 Iraqis in restoration and heritage skills, UNESCO is completing its work and Mosul is recovering essential elements of its identity. This is a collective victory, demonstrating just how useful multilateralism can be, in concrete terms and through action.
Combining heritage, culture and education
The famous leaning Al-Hadba Minaret has regained its place in the city skyline, while the bells of the Syriac Al Tahera Catholic Church and the Dominican Our Lady of the Hour Convent are ringing again. Finally, in a few weeks' time, the Al-Nouri Great Mosque, which had been destroyed by Daesh who had planted its black flag there, will be able to resume the thread of its history.
UNESCO's initiative has also resulted in the renovation of 400 classrooms in and around Mosul, support for the university library, the training of over 5,000 teachers and educators in peace education programs, and the conduct of numerous cultural projects such as the revival of festivals and art centers.
The UNESCO Director-General's visit was intended to thank all those who have made this initiative a reality: workers, craftsmen, architects, engineers, as well as many other members of Mosulian society. In all, UNESCO's initiative has created 7,700 jobs, accelerating economic recovery.
An example for the region and the world
Thanks to the commitment of the United Arab Emirates, the European Union and other partners, under the impetus of UNESCO, Mosul's civil society has shown its commitment to reconnect with its heritage, culture and knowledge, and to safeguard collective memory in order to recover from a profound tragedy.
91鶹Ʒ also been strengthened by this initiative. The Organization has acquired new expertise in post-conflict situations and is now in a position to transpose it to other crises.
The lessons learned from its work in Mosul have already inspired several of its interventions in recent years - such as in Lebanon to rehabilitate schools in Beirut damaged by the double explosion in the port on August 4, 2020, or in Ukraine to protect heritage and help education continue in wartime.
What has been achieved in Mosul is an example of what can be done in the future by UNESCO and other actors in the region and around the world,
Mosul, a historically multicultural city
Mosul - al-mawsil in Arabic - means “the meeting point”. For 2,500 years, this city has been a crossroads of cultures, marked by the coexistence of different religious and linguistic communities, the crucible of Iraq's plural identity. The heritage of Mosul's Old City has always embodied these values of coexistence and openness.
This multicultural heritage was highlighted in the city skyline by the presence of the 45-metre-high Al-Hadba Minaret, erected in the 12th century, to which the bell tower of Our Lady of the Hour Convent and its clock, donated to the Mosulites by Empress Eugénie at the end of the 19th century following the first Pope mission to Mesopotamia, a few dozen metres away.
In June 2014, Daesh seized the city to make it its capital. From the Great Al-Nuri Mosque, its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, proclaimed the creation of the Islamic caliphate in Iraq. Thousands of books and ancient objects were destroyed or looted. Daesh closed cafés and persecuted artists. Religious minorities were given the choice of converting or dying. The Al Saa'a - Our Lady of the Hour Convent became a training ground for Jihadists, and its adjacent prayer house a place of imprisonment and torture.
During its rout in July 2017, Daesh decided to dynamite the Al-Hadba Minaret and the Al-Nouri Grand Mosque. Only a human chain formed by local residents prevented the total destruction of these two monuments.
About UNESCO
With 194 Member States, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization contributes to peace and security by leading multilateral cooperation on education, science, culture, communication and information. Headquartered in Paris, 91鶹Ʒ offices in 54 countries and employs over 2300 people. UNESCO oversees more than 2000 World Heritage sites, Biosphere Reserves and Global Geoparks; networks of Creative, Learning, Inclusive and Sustainable Cities; and over 13 000 associated schools, university chairs, training and research institutions. Its Director-General is Audrey Azoulay.
“Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed” – UNESCO Constitution, 1945.
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