Shafaq News- Mosul
The craftsmen who preserved Mosul’s centuries-old markets through war and reconstruction now face a different threat: disappearing demand. Artisans across the city's historic bazaars say imported goods, rising costs and limited government support are driving traditional trades toward extinction.
In Souq al-Sawwafa, once the center of Mosul's wool trade, 73-year-old Abu Mohammed sits alone inside a shop that has outlived nearly all its competitors. Only a handful of wool craftsmen remain, he says, where dozens once supplied households across Nineveh with handmade bedding, carpets, and cloaks.
"Our profession can now be counted on one hand," Abu Mohammed told Shafaq News. "In the past, every Mosul family relied on locally processed wool. Today, imported polyester products have replaced natural wool, and government support has disappeared."
He recalls the 1950s and 1960s, when women gathered along the Tigris River to wash freshly sheared wool before sending it through the traditional chain of craftsmen who transformed it into household goods, a ritual closely tied to wedding preparations and local customs.
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The decline extends well beyond the wool market.
In Souq al-Haddadin, Mosul's historic blacksmiths' market, Ahmed Haddad says workshops that once employed dozens of craftsmen now struggle to keep one or two workers busy.
"We used to supply Nineveh and neighboring provinces with handmade agricultural and construction tools," the 65-year-old blacksmith noted. "Cheap imported products have destroyed local manufacturing, and there are no incentives or exemptions to help us survive."
A similar picture has emerged in Souq al-Saffarin, where the sound of craftsmen shaping copper into household utensils and decorative pieces has largely disappeared.
Artisans say soaring raw material costs, the lack of subsidized copper supplies, weak tourism and limited marketing opportunities have sharply reduced demand for handmade products. Younger generations have also turned away from physically demanding trades that offer little financial return, choosing government jobs or other professions instead.
The deterioration reflects a broader struggle facing Mosul's historic commercial districts, many of which were heavily damaged during the battle to expel ISIS in 2017. While reconstruction has restored much of the markets' physical fabric, craftsmen say little has been done to revive the trades that once sustained them.
According to local heritage organizations, preserving the markets requires more than rebuilding shops. Artisans are calling for subsidized raw materials, soft loans, customs protections for domestic products and programs that promote traditional crafts as part of Iraq's cultural tourism sector.
Without such measures, they warn, Mosul risks losing not only its traditional industries but also part of the city's cultural identity.
For Abu Mohammed, that loss is already visible. His small wool shop, once surrounded by thriving workshops, now stands as one of the last reminders of a trade that helped define Mosul for generations.