Al-Tahira Cathedral (Chaldean) and Mar Toma (St. Thomas) Church formally reopened on Wednesday in Mosul, northern Iraq, following extensive rehabilitation works.

The inauguration, presided over by Nineveh Governor Abdul Qadir al-Dakhil, brought together senior officials and church leaders, including Culture Minister Ahmed al-Fakkak, the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Iraq and the world, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, and Archbishop Najib Mikhael Moussa.

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Speaking at the ceremony, al-Dakhil hailed the restoration as "a symbol of peace, coexistence, and Mosul's reborn spirit," pledging continued support for residential return and the reconstruction of religious landmarks.

For nearly two millennia, Christians have formed an integral part of Iraq's history, concentrated mainly in Baghdad, Mosul, Basra, and towns across the Nineveh Plain. Once numbering up to 1.5 million before 2003, their population has now fallen below 250,000, according to church and humanitarian estimates.

Their exodus accelerated after the 2003 US invasion, when instability unleashed waves of sectarian violence, kidnappings, and church bombings that forced many to flee. When ISIS seized Mosul in 2014, Christians were given an ultimatum: convert, pay a religious tax, or face death. Homes were looted, churches burned, and centuries of heritage erased--until the city's liberation in 2017 paved the way for gradual restoration.

Ruayd al-Laila, Director of the Nineveh Antiquities and Heritage Inspectorate, told Shafaq News that the rehabilitation of both churches adhered to international conservation standards under the supervision of the Nineveh Antiquities Department, with international funding and oversight. "These two houses of worship," he added, "are among Mosul's oldest and most important, carrying deep religious and cultural symbolism."