Iraq unveils restoration at ancient city of Hatra after ISIS rampage

Country's heritage sites suffered greatly during extremist group's rule over northern and western areas

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  Iraq's ancient city of Hatra, in the northern region of al-Hadar, 105 kilometres south of Mosul. AFP

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  Iraqi archaeology officials at a ceremony in Hatra to unveil restored sculptures that were vandalised by ISIS militants. AFP

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  In 2015 ISIS militants released video footage showing their destruction of artefacts at the ancient site. AFP

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  A restored sculpture in Hatra, which was a major trading post in the first and second centuries AD. AFP

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  The militants destroyed or damaged much of what were once extensive remains of what was one of the leading trade entrepots between the Roman and Parthian empires. AFP

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  Hatra was the capital of an Arab kingdom that flourished in the first and second centuries AD, but by the third century it had been destroyed and deserted. AFP

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  Iraqis perform a traditional dance during the ceremony to unveil restored sculptures at the site. AFP

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  The historic ruins were discovered in the 19th century and in 1985 the city was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site. AFP

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  A statue in Hatra. ISIL extremists in 2015 released footage of their destruction of artefacts in which they took guns and pick axes to the once extensive remains of what was one of the leading trade centres between the Roman and Parthian empires in the first and second centuries AD. AFP

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  The ancient city of Hatra before the ceremony to announce the renovation project. Reuters

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  The 2,000-year-old Iraqi city was destroyed by ISIS militants in 2015. Reuters

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  An ancient bridge between East and West, Hatra was possibly the first Arab kingdom in the chain of cities that included Palmyra, Baalbek and Petra. Reuters

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  Hatra's Unesco-listed ruins are among the most impressive archaeological sites in Iraq. Reuters

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  A statue inside the ancient city. Reuters

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  Hatra was one of Iraq's leading tourist attractions before it was destroyed by the extremists. Reuters

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  A crane right next to the Temple of Allat, which is located in the ancient city of Hatra. Reuters

Iraq has unveiled three monumental sculptures in the ancient city of Hatra that were restored as part of the country's efforts to undo damage to its heritage sites by ISIS during the extremist group's brief but brutal rule.

Video footage released by ISIS in 2015 showed its militants using guns and pickaxes to destroy the remains of one of the leading trade centres between the Roman and Parthian empires in the first and second centuries AD.

“ISIS destroyed everything that was important in this city,” senior antiquities official Ali Obeid Sholgham told AFP.

Khair Al Din Ahmed Nasser, head of antiquities in Nineveh province, said works of art were “ripped out and shattered — we found fragments all over the site".

“We recovered some pieces. Others which were missing, we replaced with the same type of stone.”

Among the restored pieces unveiled on Thursday were a Roman-style sculpture of a life-size figure and a series of reliefs of faces on the side of the great temple.

ISIS filmed similar acts of destruction at Mosul Museum in the capital of Nineveh province, 100 kilometres north-east of Hatra, and in Palmyra in neighbouring Syria.

Iraqi government forces retook Hatra in 2017, several months before claiming victory over the extremists who seized much of the north and west of the country in 2014.

ISIS destroyed many of the thousands of heritage sites under its control in both countries, both through the looting and the sale of artefacts to fund its operations as well as through the destruction of structures and objects considered heretical under its extremist ideology.

Some sites were damaged during battles to drive out the extremists, such as the Al Nouri Mosque in Mosul, with its famous leaning minaret.

Iraq's ancient heritage had already been hit by a wave of looting of museums and ancient sites in the aftermath of the US-led invasion of 2003.

The restoration work at Hatra is being carried out by Iraqi experts in collaboration with Italy's International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies, with funding from the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas.

In the first phase of the restoration, carried out in 2020, experts assessed the damage and secured wall sculptures. This was the first operation of this scale on this site since its liberation in April 2017, the alliance's website said.

The second stage consists of “rehabilitating the on-site house of the archaeological mission and restoring carved decorations and damaged elements of one of the temples in the city”, it said.

The project also provides on-the-job training for young Iraqi curators and archaeologists.

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