Alqosh village rebuilt to showcase old traditions

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By Rudaw 10 hours ago – ALQOSH, Iraq – Perching on a mountainside, the small stone cobbled houses of the newly rebuilt historical old town of Alqosh look down over Alqosh’s newer town.

Curious tourists weave their way between the thatched roof buildings in the predominately-Christian inhabatied village of Alqosh. They stop to observe villagers that have rekindled old traditions in the village in Nineveh province some 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Mosul city. One Christian tourist Nabil Younis says: “The unique thing here is they follow old traditions, the things that were familiar to us 40 or 50 years ago.” Two women recreate the scene of how the village would have looked in previous times as they use a traditional grindstone to grind wheat. The historical village of Alqosh has been rebuilt on its original site to boost tourism to the area. Dani Asmarou, a young artist from the town of Alqosh, brought the concept to life with the help of a group of people from the town. “The idea came from a love of heritage, from a passion for the days of our grandparents that we haven’t seen, but we want to live out.” They started building the village on November 1, 2018 and the village first opened for visitors in January 2019. The cost of the project was over $110,000 dollars, $30,000 dollars of which came from donations from Alqosh locals. Dani Asmarou, the founder of the project, paid for the rest. People from the area also donated traditional equipment, old instruments, and heritage accessories, while some of it was bought from different antiquity shops and centres in the region. Sahira Younis, a bread maker from Alqosh, came to live in the old village to have a simpler life. “We bake here and live the life of our parents and grandparents. The bread has a taste, it is baked with passion, love, and it has the spirit of the olden days.” With reporting from The Associated Press

http://www.rudaw.net/english/people-places/18052019