ASIA/IRAQ - Street theater among the ruins of Mosul, to tell the difficult condition of Christians

Monday, 2 September 2019 middle east   oriental churches   jihadists   area crisis   refugees  

ankawa.com

Mosul (Agenzia Fides) - A theatrical performance among the ruins of Mosul to raise awareness about the critical condition of native Christians and the factors that contribute to hindering their peaceful return to the cities and villages of the Plain of Nineveh after their escape mass occurred in 2014 before the advance of jihadist militias of the so-called Islamic State. The performance took place on Friday, August 30th, by the theater group of Qaraqosh: a group of young Christian actors who in the still devastated center of the north-Iraqi metropolis, near the so-called "church of the clock", gave life to a performance inspired by the theatrical text entitled "Until further notice", by the author Ibrahim Kolan. The unique theatrical representation, directed by Nashat Mubarak - ankawa.com reports - was part of the program of the second Festival of street theater in the province of Nineveh, and transposes in the theatrical language considerations and alarming references on the difficult situation created for Christians after the entire region was removed from the control of Daesh. The theatrical performance also contains references to situations of widespread corruption that weigh negatively on the recovery of the property of Christians which were looted and partly destroyed during the jihadist occupation.
The church in the center of Mosul, historically officiated by the Dominican Fathers and known as the "church of the miraculous Madonna" or even as the "church of the clock", had been badly damaged but not destroyed - as was said instead - during the jihadist occupation. The restoration of the sacred building, as reported by Agenzia Fides (see Fides, 2/8/2019), is foreseen in the restoration plan of churches and monasteries devastated during the period of jihadist occupation. The restoration and reconstruction program includes the contribution of international bodies such as UNESCO and foreign institutions such as the Department of Heritage and Civilization of the University of Pennsylvania. (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 2/9/2019)


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