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Like bees building unconventional
cells, Mosul's people innovated during
the nineteenth century. They worked to incorporate new methods, new
products, and new interactions into networks that they had already
constructed in their crafts, their commerce, their city, and their region.
Today your first sight of Mosul from the south is still a bit
disappointing: the buildings are modern and have a utilitarian look,
nearer you can cheer up. You begin to see better things: the river, the
comiche and the old houses that still stand on the water's edge, and the
parks. Also you can see minarets and church spires and domes above the
rooftops. Mosul improves the closer you get to it and it is a centre for
the tourist resorts of northern Iraq.
Mosul's chief export was cotton, and today's word muslin is derived from
the name of the city. Trade in agricultural goods and exploitation of oil
in the nearby oil fields are the two main occupations of the inhabitants.
Mosul has also an oil refinery. While most of the urban population is Arab, the surrounding region is inhabited largely by Kurds. An ethnically diverse city, Mosul has the highest proportion of Christians of all the Iraqi cities, and contains several interesting old churches, including the Clock and Latin Church, which contains some fine marble and stained glass. The Chaldean Catholic Church of Al-Tahira was built as a monastery in AD300 and became a church in 1600, when various additions were built. The Chamoun al Safa church dates from the thirteenth century and has a most devious approach.
It also
has a deep underground courtyard and a cemetery between high walls
containing some ornate tombstones of Moslawi merchants. Other monuments
are the Great Mosque, with its leaning minaret, the Red Mosque, the mosque
of Nabi Jarjis, and various shrines and mausoleums. Since World War II the
city has been enlarged several times in area by new construction. The
buildings of the University of Mosul (1967) and a modern five-span bridge
stretching across the Tigris to the new suburb of Nineveh are among the
city's modern structures. The Mosul Museum contains many interesting finds from the ancient sites of Nineveh and Nimrud. The Mosul House is a beautiful, old-style building, constructed around a central courtyard and with an impressive facade of Mosul marble. It contains displays of Mosul life depicted in tableau form. |
