<p>An Iraqi museum is using computer technology and virtual reality headsets to turn back time, so visitors can explore heritage sites destroyed by jihadist fighters and in battles to defeat them.</p>.<p>Islamic State group fighters captured a third of Iraq in a lightning offensive in 2014, seizing the northern city of Mosul as their stronghold and vandalising or destroying a swathe of cultural sites across the country.</p>.<p>Now, using thousands of photographs, a group of local engineers have given a virtual rebirth to five historic sites in Mosul and the broader Nineveh province, including a mosque and its leaning minaret.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read — <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/prophet-remark-mea-in-touch-with-russia-over-arrest-of-is-terrorist-1139286.html" target="_blank">Prophet remark: MEA in touch with Russia over arrest of IS terrorist</a></strong></p>.<p>"It takes you to another world," said Mahiya Youssef, pulling the VR goggles off her rose-covered hijab at the Mosul Heritage House museum, after exploring the 3D images of damaged buildings.</p>.<p>"I really wish it was the real Mosul, not just a virtual version", added Youssef, 50, who works in a food factory in the northern city. "The return to reality is painful."</p>.<p>The IS group's then chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, made his only confirmed public appearance at Mosul's Al-Nuri mosque, where he declared the establishment of a "caliphate".</p>.<p>Mosul's Old City was reduced to rubble during the battle to retake the city, including the mosque and its adjacent leaning minaret, nicknamed Al-Hadba or the "hunchback".</p>.<p>Iraqi authorities have accused IS of planting explosives at the site before their withdrawal. Only the minaret's base survived.</p>.<p>VR technology has been used before to recreate the heritage destroyed by the IS group, including a UNESCO-backed exhibit in the United States.</p>.<p>But this museum brings sites back to life for the people who live in Mosul.</p>.<p>"Many children have never seen the Al-Nuri mosque and its Al-Hadba minaret," 29-year-old Ayoub Younes, the museum's founder.</p>.<p>"We try, through virtual reality, to let the person experience visiting those sites and retrieve those memories."</p>.<p>Five years after Iraqi forces and an international coalition routed the jihadists in mid-2017, historic sites, mosques and churches in Mosul are still being restored.</p>.<p>But large parts of the Old City remain oceans of debris.</p>.<p>While some residents have returned to other districts, much of the city remains a patchwork of buildings either ruined or under construction.</p>.<p>The private museum with a marble facade, sitting along the Tigris river, opened in mid-June and saw more than 4,000 visitors in its first month, Younes said.</p>.<p>In a sombre room, curious visitors wait to use the museum's sole VR headset, a pair of large black googles.</p>.<p>Other sites on the virtual visit are the historic Al-Tahera church, tucked among the once meandering alleyways of the Old City, and the more than 2,000 year old Hatra archaeological site in the desert south of Mosul.</p>.<p>The jihadists took guns and pickaxes to the once extensive remains of the ancient city, releasing video footage in 2015 of their orgy of destruction.</p>.<p>On his computer screen, Abdullah Bashir showed a 3D replica of the mosque housing the Nabi Yunus shrine -- revered by both Muslims and Christians as the tomb of Prophet Jonah -- which the extremists blew up in 2014.</p>.<p>"We used personal photos and shots taken by residents" to reconstruct the sites in their former state, he said.</p>.<p>But he said there were "very few" images before 2014, citing the "lack of photos" as the main difficulty.</p>.<p>Bashir and other specialised engineers from QAF Lab have brought the former scenes back to life, in a project he says is "a way of saving the memory of Mosul".</p>.<p>After his virtual tour, visitor Mohammed Abdullah pushed his wheelchair around the real-life displays in museum's vaulted rooms.</p>.<p>Many of the exhibits are daily-life objects donated by local families, from terracotta amphoras to oil lamps, traditional wall hangings, metal containers and even an old radio.</p>.<p>Abdullah, 28, a student of telecommunication engineering, also said the contrast between the VR and the reality of Mosul was painful.</p>.<p>"Reconstruction is extremely slow, and is not equal to the devastation," said Abdullah.</p>.<p>He called for faster restoration of heritage sites both to attract tourists and to "breathe life" into nearby areas.</p>.<p>Despite the bitter taste the virtual visit left, he said he has not lost hope.</p>.<p>"The day will come when we will make this visit in reality," he said. "It will be even better than the virtual one".</p>
<p>An Iraqi museum is using computer technology and virtual reality headsets to turn back time, so visitors can explore heritage sites destroyed by jihadist fighters and in battles to defeat them.</p>.<p>Islamic State group fighters captured a third of Iraq in a lightning offensive in 2014, seizing the northern city of Mosul as their stronghold and vandalising or destroying a swathe of cultural sites across the country.</p>.<p>Now, using thousands of photographs, a group of local engineers have given a virtual rebirth to five historic sites in Mosul and the broader Nineveh province, including a mosque and its leaning minaret.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read — <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/prophet-remark-mea-in-touch-with-russia-over-arrest-of-is-terrorist-1139286.html" target="_blank">Prophet remark: MEA in touch with Russia over arrest of IS terrorist</a></strong></p>.<p>"It takes you to another world," said Mahiya Youssef, pulling the VR goggles off her rose-covered hijab at the Mosul Heritage House museum, after exploring the 3D images of damaged buildings.</p>.<p>"I really wish it was the real Mosul, not just a virtual version", added Youssef, 50, who works in a food factory in the northern city. "The return to reality is painful."</p>.<p>The IS group's then chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, made his only confirmed public appearance at Mosul's Al-Nuri mosque, where he declared the establishment of a "caliphate".</p>.<p>Mosul's Old City was reduced to rubble during the battle to retake the city, including the mosque and its adjacent leaning minaret, nicknamed Al-Hadba or the "hunchback".</p>.<p>Iraqi authorities have accused IS of planting explosives at the site before their withdrawal. Only the minaret's base survived.</p>.<p>VR technology has been used before to recreate the heritage destroyed by the IS group, including a UNESCO-backed exhibit in the United States.</p>.<p>But this museum brings sites back to life for the people who live in Mosul.</p>.<p>"Many children have never seen the Al-Nuri mosque and its Al-Hadba minaret," 29-year-old Ayoub Younes, the museum's founder.</p>.<p>"We try, through virtual reality, to let the person experience visiting those sites and retrieve those memories."</p>.<p>Five years after Iraqi forces and an international coalition routed the jihadists in mid-2017, historic sites, mosques and churches in Mosul are still being restored.</p>.<p>But large parts of the Old City remain oceans of debris.</p>.<p>While some residents have returned to other districts, much of the city remains a patchwork of buildings either ruined or under construction.</p>.<p>The private museum with a marble facade, sitting along the Tigris river, opened in mid-June and saw more than 4,000 visitors in its first month, Younes said.</p>.<p>In a sombre room, curious visitors wait to use the museum's sole VR headset, a pair of large black googles.</p>.<p>Other sites on the virtual visit are the historic Al-Tahera church, tucked among the once meandering alleyways of the Old City, and the more than 2,000 year old Hatra archaeological site in the desert south of Mosul.</p>.<p>The jihadists took guns and pickaxes to the once extensive remains of the ancient city, releasing video footage in 2015 of their orgy of destruction.</p>.<p>On his computer screen, Abdullah Bashir showed a 3D replica of the mosque housing the Nabi Yunus shrine -- revered by both Muslims and Christians as the tomb of Prophet Jonah -- which the extremists blew up in 2014.</p>.<p>"We used personal photos and shots taken by residents" to reconstruct the sites in their former state, he said.</p>.<p>But he said there were "very few" images before 2014, citing the "lack of photos" as the main difficulty.</p>.<p>Bashir and other specialised engineers from QAF Lab have brought the former scenes back to life, in a project he says is "a way of saving the memory of Mosul".</p>.<p>After his virtual tour, visitor Mohammed Abdullah pushed his wheelchair around the real-life displays in museum's vaulted rooms.</p>.<p>Many of the exhibits are daily-life objects donated by local families, from terracotta amphoras to oil lamps, traditional wall hangings, metal containers and even an old radio.</p>.<p>Abdullah, 28, a student of telecommunication engineering, also said the contrast between the VR and the reality of Mosul was painful.</p>.<p>"Reconstruction is extremely slow, and is not equal to the devastation," said Abdullah.</p>.<p>He called for faster restoration of heritage sites both to attract tourists and to "breathe life" into nearby areas.</p>.<p>Despite the bitter taste the virtual visit left, he said he has not lost hope.</p>.<p>"The day will come when we will make this visit in reality," he said. "It will be even better than the virtual one".</p>