HATRA, Iraq — Strolling along the ancient ruins of Hatra in Iraq’s north, dozens of
visitors admired the site, where local initiatives seek to turn over a new leaf
after a brief but brutal terrorist occupation.
اضافة اعلان
Designated an
endangered world heritage site by
UNESCO, Hatra dates back to the 2nd and 3rd
centuries BC.
It is a two-hour
drive from Mosul, the former “capital” proclaimed by Daesh, which was
recaptured in 2017 by Iraqi forces and an international coalition that backed
them.
A tour of the
site on Saturday, the first of its kind organized by a private museum in Mosul,
aimed to boost tourism in the area.
Some 40 visitors,
most of them Iraqis, were allowed to walk around the more than 2,000-year-old
archaeological site in the golden hour of twilight.
The tourists took
selfies in front of impressive colonnades and inspected the reliefs vandalized
by
Daesh.
“It has great
history” allowing a peek into an ancient civilization, said Luna Batota, a
33-year-old on tour with her Belgian husband.
“A lot of history
but at the same time a lot of unfortunate events took place here with (Daesh),”
she told AFP.
Batota works for
a pharmaceutical company in Belgium, where she has lived since the age of nine.
Twenty-four years
later, this is the first time she returns to her homeland.
Visiting Hatra
stirred up “mixed feelings” for her, she said. “You see bullet holes, you see
many empty bullets.”
An important
religious and trading center under the Parthian empire, Hatra had imposing
fortifications and magnificent temples, blending Greek and Roman architectural
styles with oriental decorative elements.
In 2015, Daesh
released a video showing its militants destroying a series of reliefs, firing
at them and hacking away at a statue with a pickaxe.
In February, the
authorities unveiled three restorations at the site: a Roman-style sculpture of
a life-size figure and reliefs on the side of the great temple.
‘Not only war’
Five years after the defeat of Daesh,
Mosul and its surroundings have
regained a sense of normalcy, even as rehabilitation efforts suffer setbacks
and many areas still bear the scars of the fight against the terrorists.
The tour of Hatra
was organized by the Mosul Heritage House, a private museum inaugurated in
June.
But even before it,
the site drew individual visitors, according to one of the organizers, Fares
Abdel Sattar, a 60-year-old engineer.
This new
initiative seeks to “showcase the heritage and identity” of Mosul and its
broader Nineveh province, he said.
After its rise to
power in 2014 and the conquest of swathes of Iraq and Syria, Daesh faced
counteroffensives in both countries. Iraqi forces finally claimed victory in
late 2017.
As Iraq gradually
opens up to foreign tourism, dozens of visitors — particularly from the West —
are now exploring the country, with some even venturing into Mosul.
The Hatra group
are pioneers, visiting at a time when the US, British, and other governments
are warning their citizens against travel to Iraq, citing the risks of
terrorism, kidnapping, armed conflict, and civil unrest.
The tourism
sector also suffered a setback with the case of British pensioner James Fitton,
who was detained and condemned to 15 years in jail over pottery shards he
picked at an archaeological site, before a court in July overturned the
sentence and he flew back home.
Religious tourism
to the Shiite holy cities of Karbala and Najaf has been thriving, mostly from
Iran.
However,
challenges remain and tourist infrastructure is still basic in Iraq, a country
rich in oil but ravaged by decades of fighting.
“Mosul isn’t only
war, (Daesh), terrorism,” said Beriar Bahaa Al-Din, a doctoral student in
anthropology at the University of Exeter in Britain, on the Hatra visit.
“Mosul is a
civilization, heritage, culture,” he added.
“This impressive
site should be full of tourists from across the globe.”
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