Mosul, Iraq: November 9, 2025

Our first stop in Mosul was in Old Mosul at the Syriac Catholic Church of St. Thomas for a tour of the restored church. The church was founded in 1863. It was built in three years and it is entirely made of Mosul marble. After it was completely destroyed by Daesh 2014 - 2017, it was restored to its original beauty in 2022.

Daesh smashed the statues and set fires inside the church. Daesh removed the valuable manuscripts and may have sent them out of country. Everything else was burned.

From the church's rooftop, I photographed the surrounding area which is still quite devastated but where evidence persists that people live there.

We continued our exploration of the ruins of Old Mosul with a meandering walk toward the fish market. Buildings that have been completely reduced to rubble which have "safe" written on the walls means that they have been cleared of IEDs or other ordinances. There were sniper holes and shrapnel holes.

We visited the Great Al-Nuri Mosque and its Leaning Minaret (Al-Hadba). The mosque was founded in 1170 CE. The minaret was built two years later. The minaret stands 45 meters tall. It became famous for its distinctive eastward lean and came to symbolize Mosul itself. It is depicted on the 10,000 Iraqi dinar bill (currently around $8 USD). On June 21, 2017, the mosque and its iconic minaret were deliberately destroyed by Daesh. In 2018, UNESCO launched an initiative to revive the spirit of Mosul through heritage, culture, and education. In 2018, UNESCO with funds contributed by the UAE began to reconstruct the mosque and minaret. All craftspeople were residents of Mosul. During the reconstruction archaeologists discovered the ablution areas of the original mosque dating back to the 12th century CE. This below ground level is now part of the museum at the mosque.

The people of Mosul elected to keep the distinctive lean in the minaret although they selected the lean that it had in the 1970s which was not as severe as the lean of 2017.

In progress construction next to the fish market shows the contrast between what has been restored and what remains to be restored.

Some photos from the fish market. The fish shown here might be carp.

The bazaar has everything else.

We had an evening visit to the Bytna Institution for Art, Culture and Heritage, where Mohanad shared his riveting first-person account of survival in Mosul during the ISIS occupation. We met Sakar, the Iraqi who founded the Institution and took part in the “Letters to Mosul” initiative. The "Letters to Mosul" initiative collected over 4 million letters written to the residents of Mosul who had been beseiged by Daesh (ISIS) for more than two years. The letters written by people from all over Iraq expressed love, sympathy, and solidarity. On December 22, 2016, the Iraqi Air Force flew to Mosul and dropped the letters in hopes they would reach their intended recipients (https://iwpr.net/global-voices/four-million-love-letters-mosul).

The picture below shows the destruction the square in front of the current Bytna Institution for Art, Culture and Heritage in contrast with how it is now with a father and daughter walking home with their shopping.

The Institute had various implements donated to them, an exhibition of clothing from the different groups of people in Iraq, and music.

It was a very busy day. Tomorrow we head out to the Ninevah plains to visit a Christian/Yazidi village and more of Mosul.