Recent Cultural News أخبار ثقافية حديثة

Wonderful video on the Rehabilitation of the Monastery of Mar Behnam posted by the Aliph Foundation.

• UNESCO Mosul Competition Design Prompts OutcryJuly 26, 2021
  Controversies surrounding the UNESCO competition for the reconstruction of al-Nouri mosque, Mosul’s most famous landmark, continue to grow amid complaints that the winning design ignores Iraqi heritage. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/27/world/middleeast/unesco-mosul-reconstruction.html
• ICCROM Kickstarts Heritage Recovery Programme in Mosul, IraqApril 15, 2021
  ICCROM, with the support of UNESCO, The United Arab Emirates government, and the European Union is implementing a Heritage Recovery Program for Moslawi architects, engineers, and craftsmen to contribute to the recovery of cultural heritage sites in Mosul. The program has already been put into effect and will continue through 2022.
• Iraq: Rebuilding Mosul for the futureJanuary 19, 2021
  In the summer of 2014, the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, conquered the city of Mosul. Three years later, the city was liberated, but much of its cultural heritage was destroyed during the occupation. While the rebuilding of cultural sites is not a top priority for the Iraqi government, residents of Mosul are enthusiastic…
• As protests rage in Iraq, experts say culture is key to long-term reconstructionDecember 28, 2020
  Iraqi culture ministry announces new national museum in Baghdad as Mosul restoration plan is extended to historic churches HADANI DITMARS Abdulameer al-Hamdani, the Iraqi minister for cultural tourism and antiques, has announced plans for a national museum complex in Baghdad that would replace the Iraq Museum. Meanwhile, UNESCO has launched a major initiative to reconstruct…
• The architectural competition for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Al Nouri Complex in MosulNovember 30, 2020
  UNESCO, in partnership with the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, the Iraqi Sunni Endowment, and the United Arab Emirates, is facilitating an international design competition for architects and engineers to submit their ideas for the reconstruction of the Al Nouri Complex in Mosul. This complex is a valuable cultural heritage site in Mosul Iraq that was…
• Iraqi Students use VR to recreate destroyed Mosul sites.August 20, 2020
  A team of five Iraqi students has been using Virtual Reality (VR) technology and 3D modeling to recreate sites from the city of Mosul that have been destroyed by warfare. They hope their VR models can offer a record of the city’s history.
• UNESCO Revive the Spirit of Mosul: Recent ProjectsJune 8, 2020
  Restoration work on the al-Aghawat mosque UNESCO’s Revive the Spirit of Mosul initiative has begun the restoration of the Aghawat Mosque Complex. The goal of the project is to reconstruct the complex while preserving its historic integrity.
• Stabilizing work on the al-Hadba Minaret and Mosque of al-Nuri in the framework of the initiative“Revive the Spirit of Mosul” and with the support of the Heritage Emergency Fund.October 17, 2019
  The immersion video in 3 dimensions is based on images collected in Mosul in February 2018. This 3D immersive video was created via a series of images collected in Mosul in February 2018. It shows the destruction of many of the city’s cultural sites, including the Al Nuri Mosque and Al Hadba Minaret, the Tutunji…
• Penn archaeologists, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Mosul and Iraq’s State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, seek to undo the terrible destruction ISIS wrought, particularly on targeted minority groups.October 17, 2019
  In September 2019, the University of Pennsylvania’s Mosul Heritage Stabilization Program (MHSP) began assisting in the restoration of sites that have been damaged by ISIS. The program plans on rebuilding the Tutunji House, St. George’s Monastery, the Yazidi central temple at Lalish, and three smaller Christian churches located outside of Mosul.
• Unesco and Germany sign deal to restore Mosul’s Al Aghawat MosqueJune 16, 2019
  UNESCO and Germany have signed an agreement to restore the Al Aghawat Mosque in Mosul. The rebuilding of the mosque represents a key element in the restoration of the city’s cultural heritage. The main goal of the restoration process will focus on preserving the surviving historical architecture of the building.
• A tale of two citiesJune 3, 2019
  https://correspondent.afp.com/tale-two-cities   “There are families living in this alleyway,” reads the sign hung in west Mosul. February, 2019. (Photo courtesy of Maya Gebeily) A salient reminder of the costs of war from AFP and the slow rate of reconstruction.
• Ali al-Baroodi’s PhotographsFebruary 22, 2019
  The article presents a profile of Ali Yousif al-Baroodi, a self-taught photographer from Mosul. His work, which he calls “Mosulography,” is an attempt to document the city in its current state, but also to capture the splendor of its past.
• The ruins of the Old City of MosulFebruary 22, 2019
  Years after Mosul declared liberation from ISIS, the Old City is still in ruins. Plans to revitalize Mosul have been inhibited due to disorganization in government and lack of funding. Despite these difficulties, many residents are focusing on rebuilding their homes and reopening small businesses.
• AFTER ISIS: DEVELOPMENT AND DEMOGRAPHY IN THE JAZIRAOctober 14, 2018
  This brief from the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University discusses the Jazira, a region situated between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers that stretches across northwest Iraq, northwest Syria, and southeast Turkey. The brief focuses on the agricultural development and demography of the Jazira in the aftermath of the ISIS occupation of…
• Mosul: One year onSeptember 3, 2018
  One year after Mosul was retaken from ISIS, the city is still in ruins. The aftermath of the fighting has left 90 percent of the city devastated, schools damaged and destroyed, and an estimated 54,000 houses destroyed, leaving many displaced families to seek shelter in camps.
• Mosul residents taking reconstruction in their own handsAugust 29, 2018
  A year after Mosul was recaptured from ISIS, the city has the daunting task of rebuilding. Iraq has estimated the reconstruction process to cost approximately $88 billion, of which the country has received minimal, if any, economic assistance from other countries, including the United States. Some residents are taking matters into their own hands, joining…
• One year after battle for Mosul, a city lies in ruinsJuly 11, 2018
  One year after Mosul was recaptured from ISIS, the city continues to struggle. In the wake of the destruction, Mosul neighborhoods have been flattened, schools destroyed, families displaced to live in camps, and the economy is in tatters. According to one estimate, $874 million are needed to repair the city’s basic infrastructure.
• UAE, UNESCO, and Iraq conclude historic $50m partnership to reconstruct Mosul’s iconic al-Nouri Mosque and al-Hadba MinaretJuly 2, 2018
  The United Arab Emirates has signed a partnership agreement to provide $50.4 million to UNESCO and Iraq towards rebuilding the cultural heritage sites of Mosul through UNESCO’s Revive the Spirit of Mosul initiative. The project will focus on the restoration and reconstruction of many important cultural sites that have been destroyed, such as the iconic…
• Churches in al-Hamdaniya Initial Assessment ReportMarch 21, 2018
  This report presents an initial assessment of damage to cultural sites in the Nineveh Governorate of Iraq as a result of ISIS actions. The report focuses on the damages to Christian heritage sites in Qara Qush county (Al-Hamdania) located about 30km east of Mosul, including many churches and monasteries.
• The Battle for Mosul by NeighborhoodMarch 21, 2018
  The article provides an overview of the Battle of Mosul, the military operation to recapture the city from ISIS forces. The offensive began in October 2016 with a coalition comprised of Iraqi soldiers, Kurdish fighters, Sunni Arab tribesmen and Shia militiamen, assisted by a US-led coalition of warplanes and military advisers. The battle ended on…
• Reconstruction Efforts and the Mosque of al-NuriMarch 15, 2018
  The United Arab Emirates has offered to reconstruct the Al-Nuri Mosque and the Al-Hadba Minaret in Mosul. Both buildings were subjected to a months-long siege and bombardment and were ultimately destroyed by ISIS in June 2017.
• Parkour stars and the Mosque of JonahMarch 15, 2018
  Over 8,400 housing units in the city of Mosul were destroyed in the battle between the Iraqi government and ISIS, causing an estimated $1 billion worth of damage. Today, the athletes of the Mosul Parkour Club have repurposed the ruins to practice parkour stunts. Club member Abdulrazzaq Ali Mahmoud explains the club was functioning “under…
• Rebuilding Jonah’s mosqueMarch 12, 2018
  In April of 2018, a team of archaeologists discovered remnants of an Assyrian palace structure below the remnants of the Mosque of the Prophet Yonis (Jonah) in Mosul that had been destroyed by Islamic State militants in 2014. The Mosque is the center of a “clash between archaeologists keen to excavate the pre-Islamic site, on…
• The men saving history from ISISMarch 12, 2018
  Friar Najeeb Michaeel has been working to counter the damage caused to ancient Christian texts by ISIS, including hiding 12th-century manuscripts in the walls of the Mar Behnam monastery in Iraq. In an interview with CBS News, Father Najeeb explains the goal of the destruction was “to say that there are no Christians, nothing before…
• Rebuilding the Mar Behnam mauseoleumJune 15, 2017
  Fraternité en Irak, a French NGO which supports religious minorities, conducted an interview with Ethel Sarah Wolper, a historian specializing in the Middle East, in which she details the significant history of the Mar Behnam shrine in Mosul. According to Professor Wolper, “what makes Mar Behnam architecture so unique is that it combines Armenian and…