“Hawsh al-Bay’a” is a large square containing 4 churches in the old Mosul area. The terrorist organization ISIS turned it into ruins, especially since it is considered one of the main important sites for Christians. However, until now, only one church has been reconstructed .
The official in charge of churches in Mosul, Father Raed Adel, said, “The number of churches that were completely or partially destroyed in the center of Mosul, excluding the plain and outskirts, is 35 churches, monasteries, and centers of worship for Christians, and only a few parts of them have been rebuilt .”
Father Adel added, “Since the transformations that Iraq has witnessed, especially after the terrorist gangs took control of the city of Mosul, there has been a major targeting of Christians, the burning of churches and Christian places of worship, the destruction of property, and the displacement of families from their homes, which led to a large-scale mass migration and a decrease in the number of Christians in the city from 50,000 people to only 3,000 people in 2014, and after this date, no Christians remained in Mosul .”
He continued, “Some of the displaced Christians returned to the city of Mosul after 2017, but everything was destroyed,” indicating that “it is not difficult for Christian families to return to the city of Mosul, if there are sincere intentions from the government and international organizations to support them .”
According to the father, “There are only 60-70 Christian families left in Mosul now,” and he confirms that “there are families who want to return to the city if the government provides their basic needs .”
UNESCO Initiatives
In the Hosh al-Bay’a complex, there are churches for the Syriac Catholics, the Syriac Orthodox, the Armenian Orthodox, and the Chaldean Catholics. They have not been rebuilt, except for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Church of the Immaculate Conception for the Syriac Catholics in the complex, in which the Pope of the Vatican prayed during his visit to Iraq .
In 2021, the Ministry of Culture, in cooperation with the Christian Endowment Office, prepared a design to rebuild the Church of the Immaculate Conception in a manner consistent with the form it had before its destruction .
The church was rehabilitated by UNESCO with the support of the UAE. Regarding this matter, Ayoub Dhnoon, head of the Mosul Heritage Foundation and ambassador of the Revive the Spirit of Mosul initiative launched by UNESCO, says, “The 100% reconstruction of the Al-Tahera Church for Syriac Catholics took place 3 months ago as part of the Revive the Spirit of Mosul initiative that UNESCO worked on .”
He added, “The rehabilitation was carried out with financial support from the United Arab Emirates, but there is no funding to rebuild the other churches in the Hawsh al-Bay’a complex .”
The Syriac Catholic Church of Al-Tahera is the second prominent landmark to be rebuilt by UNESCO after the Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of the Hour, which the organization completed in April 2024 .
“UNESCO works according to the international funding it receives, ” says Rakan Al-Allaf, director of the UNESCO office in Mosul and supervisor of the reconstruction of the Al-Nuri Mosque, the Al-Hadba Minaret, and the Al-Sa’a and Al-Tahera churches.
He added, “The financial support that UNESCO received from the Emirati side was allocated to rebuilding the Al-Nuri Mosque, its Al-Hadba Minaret, and the 250-year-old Al-Tahera Church, which has been completely reconstructed and rehabilitated .”
He continued: “We have not received financial support yet to rebuild the Syriac Orthodox Church of Al-Tahera, the Armenian Church, and the old Church of Al-Tahera, which is located in the Al-Qalaa neighborhood at the intersection of Nabi Korkis Street and Nineveh Road, in the heart of Old Mosul .”
He stressed that “UNESCO has developed a program to rebuild and restore these churches, but no country has yet provided any financial grants to the organization in order to begin work and rehabilitate the churches.”
