The idea for Jonah X Projects came after the Battle for Mosul when I visited the Shrine of the Prophet Jonah, at the eastern edge of the city. The shrine sat on the remains of a church, which stood above an Assyrian Palace within ancient Nineveh, and had long been a point of pilgrimage for the three faiths.

In July 2014 ISIS blew it up.

Just after the battle I crawled through the looting tunnels that had been dug below the shrine, deep into our collective history, to see the giant carvings that were too big for ISIS to carry off.

Afterwards, standing amongst the ruins, I thought about the motives of the extremists who had visited so much destruction upon such a sacred place. Partly it was base greed: they had looted the antiquities to sell on the black market to fund their murderous campaigns. But there was also a fundamentally sadder thinking at work: the shrine represented a bridge to the past, to a world where Muslim, Christian, and Jewish people came together peacefully; where Mosul was once a glittering, cosmopolitan city between East and West. To the extremists the shrine was an affront written in stone, and it had to go. Their rampage caused untold damage across the region and their tactics were copied by many other extremist groups.

Jonah X Projects was formed in answer to this mindless destruction. We are an unlikely cabal of artists, archaeologists, former military, ex-foreign service folk , and other fellow travellers who believe that art and heritage will always represent a force for good.

Because of our training and skillsets, we are often the first on the ground and able to work in hostile environments where other heritage organisations fear to tread.

And the ‘X’? Well, we’re totally collaborative. Jonah X partners with local organisations and individuals. Because for every iconoclast making the headlines there are a multitude of ordinary people who hide precious artefacts and scrolls, who cement up the museum vault as artillery falls around them, or who give their lives to protect the locations of priceless ancient statues.

We strive to support these heritage heroes.

Ben Timberlake.