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At sunset, many Mosul residents flock to glimpse the majestic gold-painted statue of a woman gazing at the doomed city that was liberated three years ago from the clutches of ISIS.
The monument is one of six works sculpted by artists from the northern Iraqi city and destroyed by the extremist organization when they seized it between 2014 and 2017 and turned it into a “capital” in which it imposed its unjust laws and perpetrated atrocities to all who turned away from him
However, a team of young sculptors, including Muhammad Nizar, Omar Al-Khafaf, Nizar Abdul Latif, Khaled Al-Abadi and Omar Ibrahim, worked to revive the statues destroyed by the hands of extremism, seeking to help the inhabitants. from the city to dispel memories of injustice, brutal oppression and the terrible punishments that the public squares were the scene of many of them. In his city a ruin.
Today, the statue of “My Fair Lady” occupies a site referred to by extremists since 2018 as a place of beheading, hands, flogging and stoning, against all those who violated its teachings.
“By erecting the statue in this square, I tried to erase the horrible dark image of killing, massacre and scourging from people’s minds and replace it with a symbol of beauty and victory over terrorism,” Omar Ibrahim, from standing near your work.
The 35-year-old sculptor began working on the statue in extremely dangerous conditions, when ISIS agents were still in control of the city, so he worked in a secret underground basement.
After taking control of Mosul in the summer of 2014, ISIS destroyed all the statues and armed men stole archaeological sites that reflect the identity and heritage of the city of Mosul, on the pretext that the statues are idols banned by Islam. .
These barbaric acts were a severe blow to Mosul, which for centuries had been a cultural center for literature, music and the arts.
City codes
Mosul used to house six statues, the most notable of which was the “Girl of Spring”, who embodies a young woman carrying a bouquet of flowers and manipulating her hair and clothing.
Mosul bears the title of “Mother of two springs” because of the beauty and length of its spring season.
Artists from Mosul have succeeded in resculpting a statue similar to the original statue that stands today in front of a broken building, facing bombs and bullets.
After months of hard work, the artist team was able to complete the project of sculpting a new version of the “The Sous Seller” statue, which was completed in the 1970s by Mosulian sculptor Talal Safawi, and was in the Al-Sawas roundabout in western Mosul, as one of the folkloric landmarks that adorned the city.
They also re-carved the statues of the poet Abu Tammam and the talented musician Mullah Othman, to return to their place in western Mosul.
However, the artists sculpted the new statues into concrete, while the original statues were removed from the screening.
“There is an intention to create other statues that symbolize historical personalities of Mosul who had an imprint on the life of the city, including the scientist Ibn Sina,” said Faris Muhammad, a Mosul municipality official, a well-known doctor throughout the history.
“This monument expresses the symbolism of the city of Mosul, its cultural identity, its life, its professions and its seasons, especially the beauty of its springtime, which was expressed by the statue of the Girl of Spring,” said the researcher in history and heritage Ziyad Al-Sumaidaie.
Little of Mosul’s rich history is visible today, as in addition to the devastation caused by ISIS, the city’s infrastructure was destroyed during months-long battles to restore it, especially the western side.
Today, there is only one general hospital in the city, while access to electricity and water remains scarce, not to mention the proliferation of destroyed buildings that children traverse among them to reach a few schools that have reopened.
The standard of living of Mosul residents has declined and, in recent years, hundreds of thousands of people displaced from Mosul have been forced to live in camps rather than return to their areas.
To have moments of calm, some resort to sitting near these statues every night.
Hadeel Najjar, 30, expresses his happiness for the gradual return of life to his city and expresses his hope for the return of the displaced people.
He explained to France Press that “erecting the statues is necessary because it is part of the restoration of the affected Mosul.”
However, he believes there is a “reluctance to compensate those affected and rebuild the destroyed infrastructure, and this has negatively affected the return of people to their homes and businesses to resume their life cycle.”
