The International Research Symposium 10-12 May 2022
Capturing Memories – Rebuilding Identities: The Everyday Culture and Heritage of Post-War Iraq
This event was held with the aim of providing a platform for a gathering of carefully selected speakers with specialist research interests, experience and scholarship on Mosul and Iraq’s cultural heritage. It focused on presenting and discussing heritage management, recovery efforts and challenges in the country to conclude with useful lessons and innovative plans for preserving the country’s heritage. Also, the event includes celebrating and disseminating the outcomes of the two-year-long UK-Iraq collaborative work on exploring and recording the cultural heritage of Mosul.
This was a three-day event. The first day included two sections. The first section focused on tracing the history of Iraq and Mosul and their rich tangible and intangible heritage. The second section included delivering talks demonstrating the present standing of cultural heritage in Iraq and Mosul, and the challenges that face the preservation of the country’s traditions and historic assets due to decades of conflicts and instability
The second day was of two sections as well. The first section included delivering talks by pioneering researchers working on research studies and excavation missions in Iraq and the Middle East with aim of presenting ongoing efforts to preserve the history of this region and concluding lessons for future efforts. The second section focused on presenting the research project Preserving the Disappearing Cultural Heritage of Post-War Mosul. It included presenting the undertaken research work by the project team and its novel outcomes. This session concluded with presenting and discussing the project’s outputs and exploring future collaboration opportunities. This day of the event concluded with a private opening and reception of the exhibition: The Afterlife of War: Capturing Everyday Culture and Heritage of Old Mosul.
The third day of the event involved the formal opening of the Mosul exhibition. This is a month-long exhibition that will be on display as a companion to the British Museum’s Ancient Iraq Exhibition at The Lakeside Museum at the University of Nottingham. This event concluded with a talk delivered by Professor Mohamed Gamal Abdelmonem, NTU-CAUGH lead and the project PI, entitled Hearing the silence of Old Mosul: uncovering disappearing spaces and sounds of culture and tradition of a historic Iraqi city.
The symposium was attended by:
- Prof. Cillian Ryan, Pro-VC (international), Nottingham Trent University.
- Dr. Laith Majid Hussein - Director General, Iraqi State Board of Heritage and Antiquities.
- Dr. Mazin H. Al-Hasany, Chancellor, University of Wasit.
- Mr. Atheer Al-Saedy, First Secretary, Embassy of the Republic of Iraq.
- The research project team members from Iraq and the UK.
- Policymakers and academics from Iraq and the UK.
- Archaeologists and members of staff from the British Museum.