The church is one of the landmarks of Old Mosul, and is one of over 30 churches destroyed during the occupation of Mosul by ISIS. It was built in 1872 by Dominican monks and a quarter in the city - “Al-Sa’aa Quarter” - was named after the church and was inhabited predominantly by Christians until ISIS forced the minority community to evacuate in 2014.
ISIS swept through Iraq in 2014, capturing cities across northern and central Iraq, including Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the capital of Nineveh province, where the group’s former leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared its so-called “caliphate.”
Olivier Poquillon, a Dominican monk, is thrilled to have been able to supervise the reconstruction of the Mosul landmark since 2019.
Poquillon says reconstruction began in 2019 and so far 90 percent of the reconstruction has been completed and the remainder will be finished at the beginning of 2023.
“ISIS destroyed more than 30 churches in Mosul and 40 across the Nineveh Plains,” Poquillon told Rudaw’s Naif Ramadhan, adding “most Christians fled to the Kurdistan Region as the terror group advanced.”
More than 1.5 million Christians used to call Iraq home before 2003, but that figure has severely plummeted to roughly 350,000, according to figures obtained by Rudaw English from Erbil’s Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda.
Financially supported by the governments of Iraq and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the process of the reconstruction of Mosul’s landmarks which saw massive destruction at the hands of ISIS eight years ago is ongoing.
The reconstruction is currently focused on the city’s landmarks, including al-Tahira Church, al-Nuri Mosque, and al-Hadba minaret – all located in Mosul’s Old City.
