• Address:

    Grand Mosque of the Erbil Citadel, Iraq

  • Client:

    High Commission for Erbil Citadel Revitalization (HCECR) and KAR Group

  • Description of the works:

    Survey and Conservation Project Assessment

  • Realization:

    2021

The work was carried out under a contract with the High Commission for the Erbil Citadel Revitalization with financial support from the Kurdish oil company KAR Group. The scope of work was to carry out a structural and restoration survey of the minaret of the Grand Mosque of the Citadel and to prepare a project for the preservation of this monument. The Erbil Citadel is an important historical site, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2016.

The date when the Great Mosque was built on the citadel of Erbil is not known, but there are two records of its existence from the 13th century. The mosque has undergone a number of adjustments throughout its history, the last of which was a rather insensitive one in the 1950s. The work involved the salvage of the minaret, richly decorated with a colorful decorative brick lining, which is badly damaged.

The objective of the Conservation Assessment for the Minaret of the Grand Mosque at Erbil Citadel was to design a project documentation and implementation procedure based on the comprehensive survey and study of available data of the construction history, the current condition of its structure, identification of structural failures, their history and causes. Another output of this study was a proposal for the concept of restoration and conservation of the minaret based on the analysis of the building materials and the character of the decorative mosaic of the minaret. The minaret was revitalized based on the approved concept in 2022.

For more information on the history and significance of Erbil Citadel visit World Monument Fund web site.