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Illustration: The Al-Hadba Minaret
Single-line illustration from the museum’s identity guide.

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The Al-Hadba Minaret

  • Mosul
  • 12th century CE · destroyed 2017, rebuilt 2018–2024
  • Height 45 m · leaning 2.6 m from vertical

Engineering story

Adaptive engineering

Why it matters

When the minaret began to lean, the builders did not demolish and start again; they adapted, adjusting the angle of the arch and the bonding as they went to compensate, and it stood for centuries. Twenty-seven different geometric brick patterns cover its body, known in Iraq as al-farsh al-iraqi.

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