Mosul after Islamic State: The Quest for Lost Architectural Heritage (Palgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflict)

✍ Scribed by Karel Nováček, Miroslav Melčák, Ondřej Beránek, Lenka Starková

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2021
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 379
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The book examines the destruction of the architectural heritage in Mosul perpetrated by Islamic State between 2014 and 2017. It identifies which structures were attacked, the ideological rationale behind the destruction, and the significance of the lost monuments in the context of Mosul’s urban development and the architectural history of the Middle East. This methodologically innovative work fills an important gap in the study of both current radical movements and the medieval Islamic architecture of Northern Iraq.

✦ Table of Contents

Note on Transliteration and Dating
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Figures
Introduction
Bibliography
Chapter 1: A City Destroyed
1.1 Islamic State’s Evolution
1.2 Mosul Conquered
1.3 Islamic State’s Demolition Campaign
1.4 Typology of Destroyed Heritage
1.4.1 Mosques and Tombs of Awliya’: Pious Shaykhs and Sufis
1.4.2 Mosques and Shrines of Awliya’: Descendants of the Prophet Muhammad
1.4.3 Mosques of Prophets
1.4.4 Cemeteries
1.4.5 Christian Monuments
1.4.6 Ancient Assyrian Heritage
1.4.7 Other Monuments
1.5 Islamic State’s Ideological Attitude Toward Historical Monuments
1.5.1 Sources of IS’s Religious Ideology
1.5.2 Quranic Verses
1.5.3 Prophetic Narratives
1.5.4 Medieval Classics: Ibn Taymiya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziya
1.5.5 Educational Leaflets to Sway the Discourse on Destruction?
1.5.6 IS’s Video Production
1.5.7 Last Remnants of Idolatry: Ancient Assyrian Heritage and Shiʽi Mosque
Bibliography
Chapter 2: A City Explored
2.1 Sources and Methodology
2.1.1 Arabic Primary Sources
2.1.2 European Travelogues
2.1.3 Scholarly Research on Mosul’s Architecture
2.1.4 Vedutas and Cartographic Sources
2.1.5 Archival Aerial and Satellite Images
2.1.6 Methodology
2.1.6.1 Dataset Description and Image Processing
2.1.6.2 Topographic Data Analysis
2.1.6.3 Digital Elevation Model of the City and Geomorphometry of the City
2.1.6.4 Summary of Spatial Analysis
2.2 The Catalogue and Analysis of Destroyed Buildings
2.2.1 Congregational Mosques
2.2.1.1 Great Mosque of Nur al-Din (al-Nuri) and Minaret al-Hadbaʼ (I01 and I03)
Previous Scholarship and Sources Available
A Brief History of the Complex
Recent Development and Current State
Reconstruction of the Early Mosque9
Minaret al-Hadbaʼ
Conclusion
2.2.1.2 Al-Mujahidi Mosque (al-Khidr) (I06)
Sources Available
Building History
Recent Development and Current State
Architectural Analysis
Conclusion
2.2.1.3 Mosque and Tomb of Nabi Yunus (Prophet Jonah) (I07)
Sources Available
Building History
Recent Development and Current State
Interpretive Description
Conclusion
2.2.1.4 Mosque and Tomb of Nabi Jirjis (Prophet George) (I08)
Sources Available
Building History
Recent Development and Current State
Description and Analysis
Conclusion
2.2.2 Shrines of Imams and Adjacent Mosques
2.2.2.1 Shrine of Imam Yahya ibn al-Qasim—Madrasa al-Badriya (I04)
Building History
Recent Development and Current State
Madrasa al-Badriya
Notes on the Interior Decoration of the Complex
Conclusion
2.2.2.2 Shrine of Imam ʽAwn al-Din Ibn al-Hasan (I05)
Sources Available
Building History
Recent Development and Current State
Description of the Exterior
The Eastern Funeral Annex al-Barma (Madfan al-Jaʽfari)
The Portals
The Interior of the Shrine
Conclusion
Appendix: 3D Digital Reconstruction of the Shrine
2.2.2.3 Mosque and Shrine of Imam Ibrahim (I16)
Sources Available
Building History
Recent Development
Description
Conclusion
2.2.2.4 Shrine of Imam ʽAli al-Asghar (I28)
Sources Available
Building History
Recent Development
Description
Conclusion
2.2.2.5 Shrine of Imam ʽAbd al-Rahman—Madrasa al-ʽIzziya (I34)
Sources Available
Building History
Recent Development
Description
Conclusion
2.2.2.6 Shrine and Mosque of Imam al-Bahir (I35)
Sources Available
Building History
Recent Development and Current State
Exterior of the Shrine
Interior of the Shrine
Adjacent Spaces
Conclusion
2.2.2.7 Mosque and Shrine of Imam Muhsin—Madrasa al-Nuriya (I37)
Sources Available
Building History
Recent Development
Description
Conclusion
2.2.3 Mausolea and Mosques with Tombs
2.2.3.1 Mosque and Tomb of Shaykh Qadib al-Ban al-Mawsili (I10)
Sources
Building History
Recent Development and Current State
Description
Conclusion
2.2.3.2 Mosque and Tomb of Shaykh Fathi (I18)
Sources Available
Building History
Recent Development and Current State
Description
Conclusion
2.2.3.3 Mosque of Sultan Uways (I29)
Sources Available
Building History
Recent Development and Current State
Description
Conclusion
2.2.4 Other Sites
Bibliography
Chapter 3: A City Contextualized
3.1 Urban Morphology and Development
3.2 The Islamic Building Production of Medieval Mosul: Forms, Patronage, and Dynamics of Meaning
Bibliography
Chapter 4: Epilogue: A City Resurrected?
Bibliography
Index