Our Lady of the Hour Roman Catholic Church, popularly known as al-Sa´a (“Clock”) Church or Latin Church, was constructed by Dominican friars 1862–1873 CE. [1] In 1882, the Empress Eugenie, wife of Napolean III, donated the famous Clock Tower in recognition of the Dominican monks’ service to the people of Mosul during a typhoid epidemic in the 1870s. The neighborhood surrounding the church subsequently became known as al-Sa’a.
The church building consists of two wings of equal size, each with a large dome, and a large central courtyard. Inside, the church contains a large organ opposite the altar, as well as stained glass windows and fine marble. The clock tower stands at 27 meters high and is visible throughout the Old City of Mosul. It is adorned with four clock faces. The original clocks were maintained by hand until the 1980s, when they were replaced by mechanized versions.
In 2006, an explosion outside the church destroyed windows and three sets of doors. In 2008, another explosion damaged the church’s front gates and clock tower. No party took responsibility for either explosions.
The church and clock tower have been reported destroyed on at least three occasions. In September 2015, a Niqash article reported that ISIS militants had demolished the clock tower in February of that year.
In April 2016 rumors surfaced that ISIS militants had blown up the church. Many media outlets, including Le Figaro and The Telegraph, picked up on the story and reported it as fact despite lack of substantial evidence. In October 2016, Bellingcat, a network of investigators using open source evidence and social media, published an article that determined this report of destruction to be false.