Help Restore the Mosul University Library, Destroyed in the Iraqi Civil War
Published: Oct 2, 2017 Reading time: 2 minutes
Among the many bastions of knowledge demolished in the ISIL-waged conflict, the University of Mosul Central Library was destroyed in 2014–2016. Together with People in Need, the Charles University Arts Library of Prague is holding a campaign from October until the end of December to gather funds for its restoration. Please contribute any sum to make it possible!
With more than a million documents including rare manuscripts and historic prints, the Mosul University Library had been one of the most significant in the entire region. Under ISIL control of Mosul between 2014 and 2016, it was almost utterly ruined. With Mosul’s liberation completed in July 2017, efforts to renew the city commenced immediately. These of course include the university, and only the restoration of the library will allow both students and staff to return to their work in full.
“The campaign is the initiative of the Charles University Faculty of Arts Library staff, the expression of their professional and human solidarity with the hardship of colleagues in Mosul. The Mosul University Library was occupied by adherents of the so-called Islamic State for almost three years. Nearly all of its resources and equipment were burned or lost. Under the rule of the so-called IS, unprecedented destruction of books took place, targeting both unique and precious manuscripts and historic prints (such as a 9th century Quran) and contemporary academic literature. Yet it was in the final stage of the city’s occupation that the library sustained the heaviest damage and was almost completely destroyed. It had become a target for Iraqi government forces as the university campus was also used by IS as a base of military operations,” says the Arts Library director Klára Rösslerová to the announcement of the campaign.
You can contribute any sum, either in cash to one of the official fund boxes (locations listed below) or in a bank transfer to account number 51945194/0300. The campaign is warranted by People in Need, which has worked in Iraq since 2003 and will secure the official handover of all gathered funds directly to Mosul University Library representatives at the turn of 2018.
Destroyed Mosul University Library
More information:
Campaign website: pomozmeknihovne.cz
Campaign Facebook page: pomozmeknihovne
Fund box locations:
• Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague, Jan Palach Library, Jana Palacha Square 2
• Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague, Celetná Library, Celetná 20
• Charles University in Prague, T. G. Masaryk Social Sciences Library, U Kříže 661/8
Campaign contacts:
PhDr. Klára Rösslerová, PhD.
Charles University Faculty of Arts Library Director
klara.rosslerova@ff.cuni.cz
+420 733 676 961
Naďa Aliová
People in Need Programmes Coordinator for Iraq
nada.aliova@clovekvtisni.cz
+420 778 486 244
