Mosul flourished following the Arab conquest (640–641). The city became the capital of the province of Jazira under the Umayyad caliphs (661–750). The city then experienced a new boom in the 10th and 11th centuries under the rule of local Arab dynasties.
The blossoming of Mosul in the medieval period
Mosul and its region have produced little material evidence of the early centuries of Islam. Other cities in Iraq continued to develop under the Abbasid caliphs (750–1258), such as Kufa, Basra and later Baghdad. In Samarra, the temporary capital of the Caliphate in the 9th century located 125 kilometres north of Baghdad, the ruins of huge palaces, several mosques and important archaeological material were unearthed at the beginning of the 20th century. These were essential to the knowledge of Abbasid Iraq.
The Golden Age of Mosul under the Atabegs
Under the rule of the Atabegs, Mosul and the Jazira experienced a golden age in the 12th to 13th centuries, with great princes such as Zanki (1127–1146) and his descendants, then Badr al-Din Lu’lu’ (1233–1259). In Mosul, the main urban centre of the region, the city and its surroundings are covered with many Muslim and Christian monuments. The emblematic building of the city dates from this period: the Great Mosque al-Nuri and its famous leaning minaret, al-Hadba, built on the order of the atabeg Nur al-Din ibn Zanki in 1170–1172.
After the Mongol invasion, from 1258 onwards, Baghdad and Mosul remained important urban and cultural centres. Unfortunately, there are few remains of these. In the 14th century, Iraq came under Ottoman rule for several centuries. In Mosul, trade continued to flourish, as evidenced by the rich homes of the grand local families.
The architectural and artistic development of the city
In the 13th century, Prince Badr al-Din Lu’lu’ was a great builder and patron of the arts. Several monuments dating from his reign were preserved in Mosul until the 20th century: his Qara Saray Palace, the two shrines of the Imams Yaḥya ibn al-Qasim and Awn al-Din, the Banat al-Ḥasan Mosque, the Qadib al-Ban Mosque and the shrine dedicated to Imam ‛Ali al-Asghar.
The decorations of the Atabeg period — whether in stucco, stone marquetry, glazed bricks, wood or metal — show a taste for the bichrome and motifs in relief, as well as an increasing complexity in geometric compositions. At that time, Mosul was also a very famous centre for the manufacture of luxury objects in inlaid metal, as well as for the production of fine silk fabrics with gold thread (muslin) mentioned by Marco Polo.
