Saudi Ambassador Announces Launch of ‘Saudi Tours in Japan’

The Saudi Ministry of Culture logo
The Saudi Ministry of Culture logo
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Saudi Ambassador Announces Launch of ‘Saudi Tours in Japan’

The Saudi Ministry of Culture logo
The Saudi Ministry of Culture logo

The Saudi Ambassador to Japan and Commissioner General of the Kingdom's Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, Dr. Ghazi Binzagr, participated in the final International Participants' Meeting, held from January 15 to 16 at the Himeji Culture and Convention Center.

During his participation, Binzagr announced that the construction of the Saudi Pavilion is 82 percent complete, with the entire front façade finished. The pavilion is scheduled to welcome visitors starting April 13 and will feature more than 700 activities and daily live shows. He also highlighted the pavilion's focus on enhancing the visitor experience and announced new campaigns encouraging the Japanese community to "Discover Saudi Arabia."
"The Kingdom is pleased to host visitors and invites them to embark on an interconnected journey of new discoveries. Through our pavilion, we will showcase the depth of our traditions and the remarkable transformations taking place in Saudi Arabia," said Binzagr. "The pavilion will present more than 700 events during Expo 2025 Osaka, including daily shows featuring fashion, music, and films, offering visitors a unique opportunity to explore our rich heritage and ambitious future."
Binzagr also announced the launch of a national initiative titled Saudi Tours in Japan, aimed at enhancing cultural interaction between the two friendly nations. The tours will visit seven Japanese cities, starting in Osaka and continuing to Kyoto, Kobe, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Nagoya, and Tokyo, concluding on March 9. These tours offer the Japanese public an immersive experience, introducing them to authentic Saudi hospitality and culture while encouraging them to visit the Saudi Pavilion when it opens on April 13 with the launch of World Expo 2025.



Mosul’s Renowned Minaret Restored from Ravages of ISIS

A view of the Al-Hadba Minaret in the Great Mosque of al-Nuri, which was rebuilt after it was blown up by ISIS militants, in Mosul, Iraq, February 5, 2025. REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily/File Photo
A view of the Al-Hadba Minaret in the Great Mosque of al-Nuri, which was rebuilt after it was blown up by ISIS militants, in Mosul, Iraq, February 5, 2025. REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily/File Photo
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Mosul’s Renowned Minaret Restored from Ravages of ISIS

A view of the Al-Hadba Minaret in the Great Mosque of al-Nuri, which was rebuilt after it was blown up by ISIS militants, in Mosul, Iraq, February 5, 2025. REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily/File Photo
A view of the Al-Hadba Minaret in the Great Mosque of al-Nuri, which was rebuilt after it was blown up by ISIS militants, in Mosul, Iraq, February 5, 2025. REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily/File Photo

Mosul’s Grand al-Nuri Mosque, known for its eight-century-old leaning minaret, destroyed by ISIS militants in 2017, has been renovated in a boost for Iraq's second city as it rebuilds after long years of war.

From the pulpit of this medieval mosque on July 4, 2014, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a self-styled ‘caliphate’ spanning parts of Syria and Iraq.

Three years later, the ultra hardline group demolished the mosque in the final weeks of a US-backed Iraqi campaign that ousted the militants from Mosul, their de facto capital in Iraq.

Protracted and fierce urban warfare largely reduced the historic landmarks of Iraq's second city to rubble.

Mahmoud Thannon, 70, a tailor who lives near the mosque and runs a tailor shop overlooking the mosque’s minaret, said his two sons were killed before the al-Hadba minaret was demolished.

"When I saw it collapse, I felt even sadder than when I lost my sons," he said. "Watching the Hadba minaret rise again is a joyous day. I feel our pride soaring high as well.”

“My dear martyred sons would be proud to see the minaret rebuilt if they were alive.” said Thannon, speaking inside his shop with images of his two sons hanging behind him.

He broke into tears as he recalled their deaths by shelling in May and June 2017 in the war against ISIS.

Reconstruction and restoration of the mosque and minaret were carried out in partnership with the UN cultural agency UNESCO, the European Union (EU) and the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage.

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said over $115 million were mobilized from no less than 15 partners.

“The fact to have it (the minaret) here behind me is like history coming back; is like the identity of this city coming back,” said Azoulay in a speech delivered on February 5 near the mosque to celebrate the completion of the rebuilding work.

The Iraqis called the 150-foot (45-meter) leaning minaret Al-Hadba, or "the hunchback."

The mosque was named after Nuruddin al-Zanki, a noble who fought the early crusaders from a fiefdom that covered territory in modern-day Türkiye, Syria and Iraq. It was built in 1172-73, shortly before his death, and housed an Islamic school.

The Old City's stone buildings, where the mosque is located, date mostly from the medieval period. They include market stalls, a few mosques and churches, and small houses built and rebuilt on top of each other over the ages.