Among the most tragic losses of the many antiquities destroyed in Iraq by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has been the destruction of Iraq’s seriously understudied medieval architecture. The demolition of the mausoleum of Imam Yahya ibn al-Qasim and the tomb of Imam Ibn Hassan Aoun al-Din wiped out two of Mosul’s prominent medieval landmarks. When another explosion obliterated the Imam Dur mausoleum in Samarra, it wiped out the earliest example of a muqarnas dome in the world.

While the destruction of medieval sites has received far less media attention than attacks on better known ancient sites such as Nimrud or Hatra, the loss of Iraq’s medieval sites is perhaps even more tragic due to the relative lack of scholarly documentation.

An example is the monastery of Mar Behnam and Mart Sarah, northeast of Nimrud. Destroyed only three months ago, its loss was barely noticed, sandwiched between the carnage at the Mosul Museum and the graphic demolition of Nimrud....

BEFORE & AFTER