Dubai Telegraph - In Iraq's Mosul, library rises from ashes of IS reign

EUR -
AED 3.826681
AFN 70.327616
ALL 98.192804
AMD 406.067937
ANG 1.879076
AOA 951.190259
ARS 1045.840133
AUD 1.601828
AWG 1.877897
AZN 1.775245
BAM 1.957546
BBD 2.105077
BDT 124.589901
BGN 1.956284
BHD 0.392592
BIF 3016.094951
BMD 1.041829
BND 1.405287
BOB 7.204528
BRL 6.043693
BSD 1.04263
BTN 88.005286
BWP 14.243906
BYN 3.412124
BYR 20419.848375
BZD 2.101624
CAD 1.456946
CDF 2991.091432
CHF 0.930994
CLF 0.037254
CLP 1027.952249
CNY 7.54601
CNH 7.562783
COP 4605.144632
CRC 531.073558
CUC 1.041829
CUP 27.608468
CVE 110.75048
CZK 25.343745
DJF 185.15426
DKK 7.457312
DOP 62.978972
DZD 139.891631
EGP 51.726992
ERN 15.627435
ETB 128.155793
FJD 2.371151
FKP 0.822333
GBP 0.831468
GEL 2.855018
GGP 0.822333
GHS 16.464915
GIP 0.822333
GMD 73.970229
GNF 8992.026458
GTQ 8.048177
GYD 218.127645
HKD 8.109446
HNL 26.28575
HRK 7.431636
HTG 136.86204
HUF 411.533277
IDR 16610.452733
ILS 3.863061
IMP 0.822333
INR 87.968134
IQD 1365.316903
IRR 43834.955489
ISK 145.523076
JEP 0.822333
JMD 166.09811
JOD 0.738765
JPY 161.242873
KES 134.920816
KGS 90.122166
KHR 4220.449639
KMF 492.268155
KPW 937.645704
KRW 1463.259646
KWD 0.320727
KYD 0.868887
KZT 520.591707
LAK 22878.565176
LBP 93347.878651
LKR 303.450587
LRD 187.529583
LSL 18.888757
LTL 3.076251
LVL 0.630192
LYD 5.089375
MAD 10.49591
MDL 19.017231
MGA 4865.341785
MKD 61.54739
MMK 3383.819949
MNT 3540.134882
MOP 8.359474
MRU 41.574227
MUR 48.810083
MVR 16.10707
MWK 1807.573672
MXN 21.281613
MYR 4.654932
MZN 66.583684
NAD 18.888753
NGN 1767.675143
NIO 38.287608
NOK 11.531328
NPR 140.808938
NZD 1.78585
OMR 0.401107
PAB 1.042655
PEN 3.952739
PGK 4.194144
PHP 61.404399
PKR 289.423952
PLN 4.338074
PYG 8139.257775
QAR 3.792783
RON 4.976404
RSD 117.038068
RUB 108.671879
RWF 1427.305728
SAR 3.911717
SBD 8.734231
SCR 14.879628
SDG 626.663972
SEK 11.501974
SGD 1.402827
SHP 0.822333
SLE 23.68116
SLL 21846.638123
SOS 595.409088
SRD 36.978718
STD 21563.75683
SVC 9.123047
SYP 2617.626467
SZL 18.888745
THB 35.91223
TJS 11.103861
TMT 3.646401
TND 3.313541
TOP 2.440072
TRY 36.018972
TTD 7.081314
TWD 33.946439
TZS 2771.265486
UAH 43.133048
UGX 3852.435216
USD 1.041829
UYU 44.339112
UZS 13366.666402
VES 48.506662
VND 26482.251319
VUV 123.688032
WST 2.90836
XAF 656.558208
XAG 0.033274
XAU 0.000384
XCD 2.815595
XDR 0.793126
XOF 650.625955
XPF 119.331742
YER 260.379151
ZAR 18.862746
ZMK 9377.71492
ZMW 28.802098
ZWL 335.468513
  • RBGPF

    59.2400

    59.24

    +100%

  • RIO

    -0.2200

    62.35

    -0.35%

  • GSK

    0.2600

    33.96

    +0.77%

  • SCS

    0.2300

    13.27

    +1.73%

  • NGG

    1.0296

    63.11

    +1.63%

  • CMSC

    0.0320

    24.672

    +0.13%

  • CMSD

    0.0150

    24.46

    +0.06%

  • RELX

    0.9900

    46.75

    +2.12%

  • BCC

    3.4200

    143.78

    +2.38%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    6.79

    -0.15%

  • AZN

    1.3700

    65.63

    +2.09%

  • BCE

    0.0900

    26.77

    +0.34%

  • VOD

    0.1323

    8.73

    +1.52%

  • BTI

    0.4000

    37.38

    +1.07%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    13.21

    -0.15%

  • BP

    0.2000

    29.72

    +0.67%

In Iraq's Mosul, library rises from ashes of IS reign
In Iraq's Mosul, library rises from ashes of IS reign

In Iraq's Mosul, library rises from ashes of IS reign

The storied library of Iraq's Mosul University boasted a million titles before Islamic State group jihadists rampaged through it, toppling book shelves and burning ancient texts.

Text size:

Now, almost five years after their defeat, the war-battered northern metropolis is trying to rebuild the pride of the city long known as a literature hub boasting countless booksellers and archives guarding rare manuscripts.

Mohamed Younes, technical director of the prestigious university library, recalls the carnage he witnessed after Mosul was recaptured from IS in mid-2017 following long and gruelling street battles.

"When we came back, we saw... the books pulled from the shelves, thrown on the ground and burned," he said.

Thousands of texts on philosophy and law, science and poetry which in some way contradicted the IS's extremist world view had gone up in flames.

Some of the most valuable titles were sold on the black market.

"Before, we had more than a million titles, some of which couldn't be found in any other university in Iraq," said Younes.

When the jihadists were first at the gates of the city, he said, "we were only able to move the rare books and a number of foreign periodicals".

With the IS group's brutal takeover of Mosul, 85 percent of the collection was lost.

Before IS, Mosul University was "the mother of all books," said former student Tarek Attiya, 34, who is now enrolled at Tikrit university.

"There is a huge difference between what used to be and the situation after IS," he said.

- Refurbished building -

Now there is a revival going on to, with the help of donations, slowly line the library shelves with books again.

The library building, refurbished with financing from a UN agency, is set to reopen this month. Four floors high with a sleek glass exterior, it will have an initial 32,000 books.

It will also feature a digital trove of e-books, with a view to eventually rebuilding a million-strong collection.

Ahead of the opening, the books have been housed in the narrow premises of the university's engineering faculty where shelves are overflowing and titles are stacked on every available surface.

Significant donations from Arab and international universities have been received to "enable the revival of the library," said the director.

Renowned figures in Mosul and across Iraq have also contributed by "dipping into their personal" collections, he added.

The northern metropolis of Mosul has historically been a hub for merchants and aristocrats, with a rich cultural and intellectual life.

A commercial crossroad of the Middle East, Mosul was able to preserve thousands of rare and ancient works, notably religious texts.

Iraq's first printing press was operating in Mosul in the second half of the 19th century.

- Appetite for reading -

Signs of Mosul's fledgling cultural revival have begun to take root -- at least where there was anything left to save.

The library of the Waqf, the state body that manages Islamic endowments, once contained manuscripts dating back 400 years, said its head, Ahmed Abd Ahmed.

But, he added sadly, "they have all disappeared".

Elsewhere in the city, Al-Nujaifi street, historically lined with booksellers, still bears the scars of destruction wrought by the jihadists.

Many shops are abandoned, and mounds of rubble lay under old stone arches -- but a handful of shopkeepers have reopened their doors after paying out of pocket for restoration work.

Mosul's central public library -- which was founded a century ago last year, and had boasted more than 120,000 titles -- reopened its doors in late 2019, after restoration.

"We lost 2,350 books on literature, sociology or religion," said its director Jamal al-Abd Rabbo.

But he added that public donations and purchases had allowed him to rebuild the collection up to 132,000 titles.

Old leather-bound books with worn spines and creased pages still line the library's shelves.

Crucially, the public's appetite for literature remains unbroken, he said, and "some of our visitors come daily, for an hour or two, to read".

H.El-Hassany--DT