MOSUL, Iraq — Fakhri Sulaiman al-Tayi, 57, fled his home in Mosul and sought shelter in Erbil in 2014 when the Islamic State group (ISIS) overran the city. In 2018, after Mosul was liberated from ISIS, he returned home. There, he was met with destruction.

The air campaign to defeat ISIS reduced whole neighbourhoods to rubble and the militants blew up landmarks like the al-Nouri mosque and al-Hadba minaret as they retreated. The jihadists also destroyed or looted many priceless artifacts from Mosul’s museum during their reign over the city.

Tayi decided to turn his Mosul house into a museum in order to preserve the city’s history. He began purchasing antiquities of the city, spending 50 million dinars ($34,300) of his own money. No one has helped him financially, but a few people have contributed to his museum by donating some items. 

“If the government opens a museum, I will give all of my pieces to it,” Tayi said. 

He has collected about 5,000 artifacts and is proud of his city’s rich, multi-ethnic heritage.

“For me, all ethnic and religious groups – Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens or others – are the same. I love all of them because they are part of my city,” he said. 

He likes to dress in Kurdish, Arabic, and Christian traditional clothing. When Rudaw visited him, he was wearing a traditional Kurdish outfit. He splits his time between Erbil and Mosul.