ISIS reportedly burned thousands of rare books and manuscripts dating back hundreds of years from the Mosul public library over the weekend in an apparent effort to purge intellectual property from one of Iraq's largest and most influential cities.
According to The Fiscal Times, more than 8,000 rare books and manuscripts, some dating back to the 18th century, were burned on Sunday at the library, which opened in 1921 during the creation of the modern Iraq.
"ISIS militants bombed the Mosul Public Library," Ghanim al-Ta'an, the director of the library, told The Times. "They used improvised explosive devices."
The library housed Syriac books printed in Iraq's first printing house that dated back to the 19th century, along with books from the Ottoman era, Iraqi newspapers from the early 20th century, and antiques like an astrolabe and sand glass used by ancient Arabs.
The Mosul library also kept the personal histories of more than 100 notable families from the city for more than 100 years.
CBS News reported, though, that ISIS may have actually taken some of those books, particularly the rare manuscripts dating back to the Ottoman Empire in order to sell them on the black market.
A University of Mosul history professor who
wished to remain anonymous told the Daily Mail that those connected to ISIS started going through collections at public libraries in December. The professor said that ISIS also damaged archives at a Sunni Muslim library, the library of the 265-year-old Latin Church and Monastery of the Dominican Fathers and the Mosul Museum Library.
Also on Sunday, ISIS abolished the church of Mary the Virgin, a long standing church in the city of Mosul. Eyewitnesses told The Fiscal Times that ISIS also burned the Mosul University Theater.
ISIS reportedly burned another 100,000 books in the western Iraqi province of al-Anbar last December, local officials said.
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