Archeologists call for preserving Old Mosul

NINEWA / IraqiNews.com: Archeologists called to preserve the Old Mosul city and put an end to all encroachments and demolition activities in the city. “The functional characteristics and architectural style of the city have to be protected from extinction,” Zannoun Yunis al-Ta’ie, the director of the Mosul Studies Center, told IraqiNews.com during a symposium held under the rubric “Preserving Mosul’s Morphology”. “The task we and everyone else have to shoulder is to contemplate ways to rescue the archeological city of Mosul with all its enchanting landscapes that spell out historical depth and authenticity,” Ta’ie said. He, during the event held inside Mosul University, pointed out that the city’s urban fabric indicates great architectural features, noting 15 papers by researchers have discussed the internal composition in the city’s markets, old Turkish baths, mosques, monasteries, fort and walls. “The researches and brainstorming yielded some proposals that would preserve the remaining old features in the city,” he said, adding invitations were sent to the UNESCO and the Agha Khan Foundation, which both have interest in the city’s heritage, to contribute to the efforts. Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa, lies 405 km north of Baghdad. The original city of Mosul stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient biblical city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial areas on both banks, with five bridges linking the two sides. There are different communities in Mosul like Christians, Shiites and Kurds along with a Sunni majority. The city is also a historic center for the Nestorian Christianity of the Assyrians, containing the tombs of several Old Testament prophets such as Jonah, Yunus in Arabic, and Nahum. Mosul is one of the most important historical cities. It lies close to the province of Ninewa, one of the capital cities of the ancient Assyrian kingdom. The city was also the seat of the earlier libraries known to mankind, dating back to the second millennium BC. Emadeddin Khalil, a researcher and professor of history at the Faculty of Literature, Mosul University, told IraqiNews.com that his paper revolved around the means to breathe a new life into Mosul’s heritage arteries. “We don’t have to begin from scratch. We should build on what was already achieved. What we need is that international organizations, along with the official and non-governmental bodies, would do what they have already done to rescue the old cities of Tripoli in Lebanon and Fez in Morocco,” said Khalil. Recommendations in the symposium included ways to turn large old residential places into museums, cultural clubs, tourist attractions or halls to showcase fine arts and restaurants to serve food typical of the Mosul cuisine. AmR (I)/SR 1