HATRA (AFP) – 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 terrorists’ rule.
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 the Daesh terrorist group, 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 terrorists.
“It has great history” allowing a peek into an ancient civilisation, 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.
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.
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.