Laurin Strele’s photographs from Mosul, Iraq, were published in the September 2025 issue of GEO Magazine.
The feature centres on Al-Tahira Cathedral, which was burned during the ISIS invasion in 2014 and has since been carefully restored. Once a vibrant place of worship for Mosul’s Christian community, the cathedral now stands in a city where its bells reach only a handful of believers.
Photographing the building meant looking beyond destruction and reconstruction. The story considers the fragility of cultural heritage after war, the resilience of those rebuilding their lives, and the way a place of faith can carry memory even after its community has been scattered.
The feature appears in GEO 09/2025, available in print and digital editions. My thanks to the magazine’s editors for supporting sustained documentary work on overlooked realities.
