UNESCO Brushes Old Mosul House Off Destruction Left by Daesh
(AWP) - Umm Rahma, an Iraqi woman who owns one of the oldest historical houses in the northern Iraq province of Mosul, nearly 300 years old, which was destroyed by Daesh bombing attacks during their control over the city.
The UNESCO has intervened to restore the house and breathe life into deep-rooted luster.
The house landlady, sailing into memories, said, “Lots of memories are here. Jubilation and everything once marked this house. I still have those memories of my aunts and friends in this house with all its memorable trees and leaves.”
Umm Rahma’s house has borne witness to an important epoch of Iraq’s history and once hosted dignitaries, including the former Iraqi president Abdulsalam Aref, who was a friend of her brother.
“Abdulsalam was my brother’s friend. The house of my paternal aunt was bonded by friendship with Abdulsalam Aref’s family. Aref’s uncles were in the same school with my siblings. He visited us here in this house,” she recalls.
On the project to restore the house under the sponsorship of the UNESCO, Nadia Saleh Hussein, the leader of the international organization’s restoration crew, said the house was one of 124 houses targeted for restoration as part of the ‘Reviving the Spirit of Mosul’ project financed by the European Union (EU).
“This house has been rehabilitated in its original old style. Substances similar to the original ones with which the house was built were also used. The features distinguishing the house like Mosul furniture known as ‘marmar’ as well as the details of the windows, doors and stone reliefs have been kept in their original forms,” explained Hussein.
The old house has memories for Umm Rahma’s daughter too.
“The house is located in the area of al-Shaarin souk, near Nabi-Jarjis Mosque. It belonged to my grandfather, Haj Khalil al-Nuaimi, and is more than 300 years old. I grew up in this house, where I was raised to old habits and traditions of Mosul. All my beautiful childhood memories were here in this house,” Rahma said.
The UNESCO had launched an initiative called ‘Revival of the Spirit of Mosul’ in 2018 as part of the international organization’s contribution to rejuvenate one of the oldest Iraqi cities, according to UNESCO’s website.