Despite rumors in the media saying the ancient monastery of St. George in Mosul has been completely demolished, Iraqi sources have said the Church has not been destroyed.
According to Fides, the jihadists of the Islamic State damaged the ancient monastery’s façade, noting a photo published exclusively on ankawa.com website shows the church with a destroyed facade.
«We are saddened by what is happening to the monastery,» Sister Luigina, superior of the Chaldean sisters in Rome, born and raised in Mosul, said.
The destructive fury of the jihadists focused on the facade of the place of worship for its special architectural configuration.
Already in December, jihadists removed the crosses that stood on the dome and roof of the monastery, similarly to what happened to the other churches in the territories controlled by the Islamic State.
While the monastery was salvaged, local sources and the photo published by the Iraqi website confirm that the cemetery adjacent to it
In the cemetery were the bodies of many Iraqi Christians soldiers killed during the Iraq-Iran war.
In recent times, the monastery of St. George had been used by jihadists as a place of detention.
