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Iraq’s Famed ‘Hunchback’ of Mosul Rebuilt Brick by Brick 

Builders work on the final stages of the reconstruction of the historic Great Mosque of al-Nuri, whose "Al-Hadba" leaning minaret which dates back to the 12th century was destroyed by ISIS group fighters, in Mosul's old city in northern Iraq on February 3, 2025. (AFP)
Builders work on the final stages of the reconstruction of the historic Great Mosque of al-Nuri, whose "Al-Hadba" leaning minaret which dates back to the 12th century was destroyed by ISIS group fighters, in Mosul's old city in northern Iraq on February 3, 2025. (AFP)
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Iraq’s Famed ‘Hunchback’ of Mosul Rebuilt Brick by Brick 

Builders work on the final stages of the reconstruction of the historic Great Mosque of al-Nuri, whose "Al-Hadba" leaning minaret which dates back to the 12th century was destroyed by ISIS group fighters, in Mosul's old city in northern Iraq on February 3, 2025. (AFP)
Builders work on the final stages of the reconstruction of the historic Great Mosque of al-Nuri, whose "Al-Hadba" leaning minaret which dates back to the 12th century was destroyed by ISIS group fighters, in Mosul's old city in northern Iraq on February 3, 2025. (AFP)

The leaning minaret of Mosul in northern Iraq has been restored using its original brickwork, years after it was reduced to rubble under ISIS rule.

The Al-Hadba or "hunchback" minaret is part of the historic Al-Nuri Mosque from where former ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in July 2014 declared his so-called "caliphate" that committed atrocities across swathes of both Syria and Iraq.

The mosque and minaret were destroyed in June 2017 during the battle to oust ISIS from Mosul, and Iraq's authorities accused the extremists of planting explosives before their withdrawal.

The minaret and mosque are the latest landmarks in Mosul to be restored with the help of United Nations heritage body UNESCO, which has worked for five years to revive several sites there.

The Al-Hadba minaret of today is an exact replica of the old one, "built with the same bricks", said Abdullah Mahmoud of the Iraqi department of antiquities.

"Al-Hadba is our identity, and by restoring it, the identity of the city has been reclaimed."

The restored minaret's tilt has been retained at 160 centimeters (63 inches), just as it was in the 1960s.

However, engineers have reinforced the foundations so it no longer leans quite so precariously, as it began to do gradually after being built in the 12th century.

"The minaret's body from the inside needed 96,000 new bricks," Mahmoud said.

"But for the exterior we used 26,000 old bricks" to preserve its historical legacy.

A picture shows a view of the historic Great Mosque of Al-Nuri's "Al-Hadba" leaning minaret after its reconstruction in Mosul's old city in northern Iraq on February 3, 2025. (AFP)

- 'Massive change' -

Days before work was completed, hundreds of workers put the finishing touches to Al-Nuri's columns, dome and yard.

Mahmoud said the mihrab, a niche indicating the direction of the holy city of Makkah, has been largely repaired using its original stones.

But the minbar, from where sermons are delivered, has lost most of its original pieces.

Across the street, Imad Zaki, a former muezzin at the mosque, said: "Every day I stand here for an hour to watch as they are restored to their original state."

"Today one can feel the spirituality. It's as if our souls have finally found peace," added the 52-year-old, wearing a long traditional Iraqi abaya, or robe.

Eighty percent of Mosul's old city was destroyed in the fight against ISIS, and more than 12,000 tons of rubble was removed for the UNESCO restoration project, which also included Al-Tahira and Our Lady of the Hour churches and 124 heritage houses.

The Al-Tahira Church, dating from 1862, has been rebuilt with its arcades, embellished pillars and stained-glass windows.

Maria Acetoso, senior project manager at UNESCO Iraq, said the project aimed "to work in parallel on meaningful monuments for the city and also to bring life back" to Mosul.

"When I arrived here in 2019 it looked like a ghost city," Acetoso said. "In five years plus, there has been a massive change."

- Scars of battle -

After ISIS was defeated, life returned to the city's streets, where the chatter of patrons in small cafes blended with the clatter of construction work at the mosque.

In the coming weeks, Iraqi authorities will inaugurate the restored landmarks.

But Mosul still bears scars from the ferocious fight against ISIS.

Tucked away in narrow old city alleyways are ruined houses. Some bear the word "safe" scrawled in red on walls, signaling that they that have been cleared of explosives.

The crumbling walls and shattered windows tell tales of displacement. Their original owners, mostly Christian, have yet to return.

Mohammed Kassem, 59, came back to the old city a few years ago, to a new house as his former home was just debris.

Mosul still "needs a great deal" of work before it is back to normal, he said.

"It needs its former residents... the Christians to come back. This is their place," Kassem added.

Across the street from Al-Nuri Mosque, Saad Mohammed, 65, said he hoped the restoration efforts will attract visitors to Mosul, although he still feels sad because of what it has lost.

But he couldn't help but smile when he looked up at the minaret from his little shop.

"We opened the window once and saw the black ISIS flag on top of the minaret. Then we opened it again and the minaret was gone," said Mohammed, who never left Mosul, even at the height of the fighting.

"Today the minaret has risen again, alongside the mosque and the churches. Now we feel safe," he said.

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Culture

Tomb More Than 1,000 Years Old Found in Panama

This handout picture released by Panama’s Ministry of Culture shows an archaeologist working inside a pre-Hispanic tomb approximately 1,200 years old, discovered at the El Cano Archaeological Park in Cocle, Panama, on February 20, 2026. (Handout / Panama’s Ministry of Culture / AFP)
This handout picture released by Panama’s Ministry of Culture shows an archaeologist working inside a pre-Hispanic tomb approximately 1,200 years old, discovered at the El Cano Archaeological Park in Cocle, Panama, on February 20, 2026. (Handout / Panama’s Ministry of Culture / AFP)
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Tomb More Than 1,000 Years Old Found in Panama

This handout picture released by Panama’s Ministry of Culture shows an archaeologist working inside a pre-Hispanic tomb approximately 1,200 years old, discovered at the El Cano Archaeological Park in Cocle, Panama, on February 20, 2026. (Handout / Panama’s Ministry of Culture / AFP)
This handout picture released by Panama’s Ministry of Culture shows an archaeologist working inside a pre-Hispanic tomb approximately 1,200 years old, discovered at the El Cano Archaeological Park in Cocle, Panama, on February 20, 2026. (Handout / Panama’s Ministry of Culture / AFP)

Archaeologists have discovered a tomb more than a thousand years old in Panama containing human remains alongside gold and ceramic artifacts, the lead researcher told AFP on Friday.

The discovery was made at the El Cano site in the Nata district about 200 kilometers (124 miles) southwest of Panama City.

Scientists and archaeologists have already unearthed other remains of pre-Hispanic cultures in the region that has been excavated for two decades.

The skeletal remains were found surrounded by gold objects and pottery decorated with traditional motifs, pointing to these being "high-ranking" individuals, archaeologist Julia Mayo told AFP, adding that the tomb was built between 800 and 1000 AD.

"The individual with the gold was the one with the highest social status in the group," she said.

That body was found with two bracelets, two earrings, and pectoral jewelry that featured bats and crocodiles, she added.

The El Cano archaeological site is linked to the societies that inhabited the central provinces of Panama between the 8th and 11th centuries.

"This is where they buried their dead for 200 years," said Mayo.

Nine other tombs "similar" to the one found on Friday had already been found at the site, she added.

Panama's Ministry of Culture said the discovery was "of great importance for Panamanian archaeology and the study of pre-Hispanic societies of the Central American isthmus," referring to the land that connects North and South America.

According to experts, these excavations demonstrate that death did not represent an end for these societies, but a transition to another phase where social status remained important.

Culture

When in Rome: Budapest Pizzeria Offers Time-Travel Twist with Ancient Rome-Inspired Pie

László Bárdossy, head chef of the Neverland Pizzeria adds topping on the restaurant's Roman-era pizza in Budapest, Hungary, on Feb. 11, 2026. (AP)
László Bárdossy, head chef of the Neverland Pizzeria adds topping on the restaurant's Roman-era pizza in Budapest, Hungary, on Feb. 11, 2026. (AP)
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When in Rome: Budapest Pizzeria Offers Time-Travel Twist with Ancient Rome-Inspired Pie

László Bárdossy, head chef of the Neverland Pizzeria adds topping on the restaurant's Roman-era pizza in Budapest, Hungary, on Feb. 11, 2026. (AP)
László Bárdossy, head chef of the Neverland Pizzeria adds topping on the restaurant's Roman-era pizza in Budapest, Hungary, on Feb. 11, 2026. (AP)

In Hungary’s capital, a city best known for its goulash, a pizzeria is inviting diners to travel back two millennia to a time before tomatoes, mozzarella or even the word “pizza” were known in Europe.

At Neverland Pizzeria in central Budapest, founder Josep Zara and his team have created a limited-edition pie using only ingredients that would have been available in ancient Rome, long before what we know today as pizza ever existed.

“Curiosity drove us to ask what pizza might have been like long ago,” Zara said. “We went all the way back to the Roman Empire and wondered whether they even ate pizza at the time.”

Strictly speaking, they did not. Tomatoes arrived in Europe centuries later from the Americas, and mozzarella was as yet unknown. Some histories have it that the discovery of mozzarella led directly to the invention of pizza in Naples in the 1700s.

But Romans did eat oven-baked flatbreads topped with herbs, cheeses and sauces, the direct ancestors of modern pizza, which were often sold in ancient Roman snack bars called thermopolia.

In 2023, archaeologists uncovered a fresco in Pompeii depicting a focaccia-like flatbread topped with what appear to be pomegranate seeds, dates, spices and a pesto-like spread. The image made headlines around the world, and sparked Zara’s imagination.

“That made me very curious about what kind of flavor this food might have had,” he said. “That’s where we got the idea to create a pizza that people might have eaten in the Roman Empire, using only ingredients that were in wide use at the time.”

Zara began researching Roman culinary history, consulting a historian in Germany as well as the ancient cookbook De re coquinaria, thought to have been authored around the 5th century. Following his research, he compiled a list of historically documented ingredients to present to the pizzeria's head chef.

“We sat down to imagine what we might be able to make using these ingredients, and without using things like tomatoes and mozzarella,” Zara said. “We had to exclude all ingredients that originated from America.”

Head chef László Bárdossy said the constraints forced the team into months of experimentation, and a few false starts.

“We had to discard a couple ideas,” Bárdossy said. “The fact that there wasn’t infrastructure like a water system at the time of the Romans made things difficult for us, since more than 80% of pizza dough is water. We had to come up with something that would have worked before running water.”

The solution: helping the dough rise using fermented spinach juice. Ancient grains such as einkorn and spelt, widely cultivated in Roman times, formed the base, and the dough ended up slightly more dense than that of most modern pizzas.

The finished pie is topped with ingredients associated with Roman aristocratic cuisine, including epityrum, an olive paste, garum, a fermented fish sauce ubiquitous in Roman cooking, confit duck leg, toasted pine nuts, ricotta and a grape reduction.

“Our creation can be called a modern pizza from the perspective that we tried to make it comprehensible for everyone,” Bárdossy said. “Although we wouldn’t use all its ingredients for everyday dishes. There is a narrow niche that thinks this is delicious and is curious about it, while most people want more conventional pizza, so it’s not for everyday eating. It’s something special.”

For Zara, the project reflects Neverland Pizzeria’s broader philosophy.

“We’ve always liked coming up with new and interesting things, but tradition is also very important for us, and we thought that these two things together suit us,” he said.

However, he added, there is a modern boundary the restaurant will not cross.

“We do a lot of experimentation with our pizzas. But of course, we definitely do not use pineapple,” he said.

Culture

Jeddah's Red Sea Museum Announces Ramadan Program 

The Red Sea Museum. (Red Sea Museum)
The Red Sea Museum. (Red Sea Museum)
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Jeddah's Red Sea Museum Announces Ramadan Program 

The Red Sea Museum. (Red Sea Museum)
The Red Sea Museum. (Red Sea Museum)

Jeddah's Red Sea Museum announced on Thursday a curated program of creative and cultural activities for the holy month of Ramadan, running from February 22 to March 14.

Led by local artists, artisans, and cultural practitioners, the museum's Ramadan program includes contemplative workshops, storytelling sessions, outdoor community gatherings, and musical performances that honor the spirit of reflection, creativity, and connection.

The series of engaging sessions creates space for visitors to explore traditional crafts, contemporary storytelling, and cultural heritage through hands-on experiences blending creativity and reflection.

Curated for families, artists, and visitors of all backgrounds, the program runs alongside "Sunken Treasures: The Maritime Heritage of the Red Sea," the museum's major temporary exhibition opening on February 25, which explores how archaeological discoveries reveal centuries of trade, navigation, and human connection across the Red Sea.

In celebration of Founding Day on February 22, the "Inspirational Threads: Makkah & Madinah" contemplative embroidery workshop invites participants to engage with archival black-and-white photographs of the Red Sea, Makkah, and Madinah. Through basic embroidery techniques, participants can embellish these images with Islamic geometric and symbolic motifs, adding layers of color, texture, and meaning while reflecting on devotion, memory, and connection.

The "Radiance in Pieces: Mosaic Lantern" hands-on workshop on February 24 explores the tradition of Islamic mosaic art through the creation of illuminated lanterns inspired by Red Sea heritage. Children and families will learn how small, colorful pieces come together to form meaningful geometric designs, blending creativity, cultural heritage, and reflection.

The opening evening of "Sunken Treasures: The Maritime Heritage of the Red Sea" on February 25 features a panel discussion with archaeologists, scientists, and historians exploring the maritime heritage of the Red Sea.

The "One Big Table - Ramadan Gathering" on March 5 brings everyone together in a shared space where families, friends, and neighbors celebrate the spirit of Ramadan.

On March 7, the "From Sand to Porcelain" painting workshop invites participants to paint calligraphy on fine porcelain using natural sand collected from Jeddah to add subtle texture and depth. While learning basic porcelain painting techniques, participants will engage in a reflective, hands-on experience that encourages mindful creation, resulting in a personal keepsake that embodies devotion, place, and the spirit of Ramadan.

In the spirit of International Women's Day on March 8, the "Ramadan Spirit: Thread & Needle" hands-on punch needling workshop explores Ramadan iconography through traditional symbols, including the crescent, star, and lantern. Participants will create textured textile pieces while learning basic punch needle techniques, celebrating both the holy month and the creative contributions of women to traditional textile arts.

On March 14, the "Spirit of Ramadan and the Tale of Jabir Al-Khawatir" storytelling session for children and families explores Ramadan as a season of compassion and healing, reminding people that the spirit of the holy month lives in small acts of care and human connection.