Even for anyone intrepid enough to contemplate visiting the war-ravaged Syrian city of Aleppo to see the Umayyad-era Great Mosque, the journey will be a waste of time. The mosque has become collateral damage in the country’s civil war, and its 45 metre minaret – once an emblem of the city, recorded on thousands of postcards – is now just dust and rubble.
It’s the same with the 15th century Madrasa of Amir Bardabak, part of Al Mahkama Mosque in Gaza. After surviving more than 600 years, it was pulversised, along with so much of the Gaza Strip, by Israel’s bombardment during Operation Protective Edge. But both live on in the virtual world, thanks to the foresightedness of an organisation known as the Museum With No Frontiers. Those who visit the museum’s website can experience a virtual tour of the Grand Mosque, the Gaza madrassa and more than 500 other sites, complete with expert commentary about what they are seeing.
Sadly these two examples do not reflect the extent of the cultural heritage of the Middle East that has been lost to conflict. Another featured site is the Museum of Islamic Arts and the National Library at Bab Al Khalq in Cairo, both ripped apart by a terrorist’s bomb this year.
Future generations will be able to thank those behind the Museum With No Frontiers for getting a taste of what visiting these now-lost sites was like. Of course, the best thing would be for these conflicts to end, but that will take far more than just a few clicks of a mouse to achieve.
