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Similar Baghdad Zoo, Baghdadi Museum, National Museum of Iraq, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Ziggurat of Ur | ||
St. Joseph's cathedral in Ankawa (also: Mar Yousif cathedral) is the seat of the Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil (Archieparchia Arbilensis Chaldaeorum or إيبارشية أربيل الكلدانية) created under the pontificate of Pope Paul VI. The temple follows the Chaldean rite of the Chaldean Catholic Church, one of the eastern "sui iuris" Churches that make up the Catholic Church and who are in communion with the Pope in Rome.
History
Construction on St. Joseph's church began in 1978 while Stephan Babaka was archbishop of Erbil. The church was built at government expense with volunteer labor from the people of Ankawa and completed in 1981. St. Joseph's church was designed in distinctive Babylonian style including a main gate modeled on the Ishtar Gate. St. Joseph's church is the seat of the Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil. Today St. Joseph is the shelter for all refugees that fled from the violence of ISIS.