Tomb of the Girl
memorial monument in Mosul, Iraq (to 2014)
The Tomb of the Girl (Arabic: قبر البنت) was a memorial monument located at Bab Sinjar in Mosul, Iraq. The monument was alleged to be a burial place of a female mystic, hence its name, but in reality, it was a memorial built over the grave of Muslim historian Ibn al-Athir. It was located in the middle of a road as well. The monument was bulldozed in 2014 by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
History
Ibn al-Athir died in 1232 and was buried in the cemetery of Qadib al-Ban al-Mawsili. In the early 20th century, the district of Bab Sinjar underwent modernization, so roads for vehicles were built, and this required the clearing of the cemetery. The government, unwilling to destroy the tomb of a respected scholar, instead plastered the grave and built a small domed memorial over it.
The legend of the Girl
The monument received its name because of an erroneous legend, stemming from a British writer who visited Mosul in 1922. She claimed that the tomb was dedicated to a female saint who died of a broken heart, and the legend appeared in the news and media of that time, spreading worldwide.
The Yazidis believe that the tomb is of a female mystic who married an Emir of Mosul, but died of poisoning, which caused the Emir great sadness, so he built the memorial as commemoration.
“Tomb of the Girl” enters the record as memorial monument in Mosul, Iraq (to 2014). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Tomb, Girl and memorial can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Tomb of the Girl” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Tomb, Girl and memorial provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q123684745. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2014, 1232 and 1922.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Tomb of the Girl”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Tomb of the Girl primary sources, Tomb of the Girl archive and Tomb research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Tomb of the Girl”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Tomb of the Girl” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.