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In 2018, the “Revive the Spirit of Mosul” operation was launched. It is the most ambitious reconstruction campaign carried out by UNESCO in recent decades. The iconic Al-Nouri mosque and its Al-Hadba minaret, the Notre-Dame de l'Heure convent and the Al-Tahera church, heritage houses, the Al-Aghawat mosque and the Al-Ekhlass school are rebuilt. all located in the old city of Mosul. The initiative also benefits the inhabitants of the region, thanks to the employment and training opportunities it offers.

In 1870, the convent of Notre-Dame de l'Heure was founded. It included a church, a seminary, a school for boys, a school for girls and a hospital. A school for teachers was then added. The Dominicans had no books for teaching. So rather than importing books from Europe, they decided to create the Mesopotamia's first printing press in Mosul. They published the first Bible in Arabic, the first Kurdish grammar book as well as many other texts.

In 1876, Empress Eugénie the wife of Napleon III, financed the construction of the bell tower (the first in Iraq) which was installed in 1880 with its famous four-dial clock which gave it its name. Its bells chimes have add rhythm to people’s life across the entire city throughout the centuries.

• searchThe Cornille Havard Foundry
  

  
  "The Cornille Havard Foundry is the heir to a long tradition of bell founders established in Villedieu-les-Poêles in Normandy since the Middle Ages. In the workshop built in 1865, a hundred or so monumental bells are made each year, thus perpetuating the know-how and methods of the craftsmen of the past.
  
  It combines the best of tradition with the best of technology. The foundry produces church bells, chimes, art and decorative bronzes (statues of artists and bas-reliefs).

  
  It also takes care of the installation and maintenance of the electrical and electronic installations related to the Art Campanaire. The workshop is open to the public and receives more than 50,000 visitors each year."

  Find out more about the Cornille Havard Foundry, one of only three French bell manufacturers, and on the process of creating the bells, click HERE.

Mosul has always been marked by the coexistence of different ethnic, linguistic and religious groups reflecting values of tolerance and coexistence that have prevailed for centuries. It is because Mosul was so singular, so multicultural and so steeped in inter-religious dialogue that it was suddenly targeted by Daesh. The invasion of the city in June 2014, the three-year occupation and the subsequent battle for its liberation in July 2017 led to the destruction of 80% of old Mosul. Thousands of rare books and manuscripts, museums and religious monuments were destroyed or looted. Everything was devastated and reduced to rubble. Thousands of inhabitants were displaced, Christians were martyred and fled.

UNESCO's contribution is fantastic and without it nothing could have been done with such speed and efficiency. But this bell is an addition which is not only cultural, its chime will be linked to the beginning of the offices, the Hope, the return of Peace. It will sound at B4. With a diameter of approximately 37 cm, it is designed to sound on the flight and will be equipped with its accessories. It will equip a small campanile which is visible on the photo.