Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, is locked under the rule of extremists from the Islamic State group trying to purge it of everything they see as contradicting their stark vision of Islam. A trove of photographs now housed at the Library of Congress offers a glimpse of a different Mosul – before wars, insurgency, sectarian strife and now radicals' rule. The scenes were taken in the autumn of 1932 by staff from the American Colony Photo Department during a visit to Iraq at the end of the British mandate. (Photo by AP Photo)

Two traditional folk dancers performing in Teheran, Iran. (Photo by Keystone Features/Getty Images). 25th January 1961

Iraqi security forces ride in vehicles travelling to Mosul to fight against militants of Islamic State at an Iraqi army base in Camp Taji in Baghdad, February 21, 2016. (Photo by Ahmed Saad/Reuters)

Students of the Ballet Academy prepare to perform during the school annual ceremony in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, April 1, 2022. (Photo by Hadi Mizban/AP Photo)

Civilians present their rations cards in order to receive humanitarian food aid being distributed by the Iraqi Red Crescent, in the eastern side of Mosul, Iraq, Tuesday, January 31, 2017. Iraqi forces declared Mosul's eastern half fully liberated, just over three months after the operation to retake the city from IS was formally launched in October. (Photo by Khalid Mohammed/AP Photo)

Vian Salman, center, smiles with fellow contestants after she was crowned the new Miss Iraq during the Miss Iraq contest in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, May 25, 2017. (Photo by Karim Kadim/AP Photo)

A worker carries a carp freshwater fish at a breeding site in Iraq's central city of Najaf, on June 13, 2021. (Photo by Ali Najafi/AFP Photo)

Iraqi boys swim with a herd of buffaloes in the Diyala River in the Faziliah district, east of Baghdad on August 2, 2021, amid extreme summer temperatures. As Iraq bakes under a blistering summer heat wave, its hard-scrabble farmers and herders are battling severe water shortages that are killing their animals, fields and way of life. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)