Breathing New Life Into Cultural Heritage Sites

Last Look: Spring/Summer 2022

May 31, 2022

Spring/Summer 2022

The sanctuary of the main church of the Monastery, with the altar demolished and the marble cladding stripped from the walls. Islamic State militants had also upended the dome above the altar. “When we initially visited the Monastery in 2018, the dome was balanced precariously on its side on the church’s roof,” says Zettler. “We broke the old dome up to remove it and we installed a new dome topped with a large cross above the altar that towers above the Monastery’s courtyard.

Under the Iraq Heritage Stabilization Program, a team led by Richard L. Zettler, Associate Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (NELC), and Michael Danti, a researcher in NELC, has collaborated with partners in Iraq to restore cultural heritage sites, including Monastery of St. George in Mosul, a city in northern Iraq. Here, Zettler details the complex process of restoration.

The inside of the front wall of the church at the west end of the building. This wall originally featured a large stained-glass window in the shape of a cross. “The church stands on top of a high-ruin mound, concealing the remains of the ancient occupation of the site, and the cross dominated the view from the main north-south highway below,” says Zettler. “Islamic State demolished the front wall of the church to obliterate all traces of the cross, though the top of the cross is still recognizable.

A crowd gathered in the courtyard of the Monastery following the reconsecration of the main church. The church, with its new dome topped by a large cross, looms over the courtyard. The restoration of the Monastery’s chapel and main church took roughly one year, with the reconsecration taking place in November 2021.

Photos courtesy of Richard L. Zettler