The interior of a burnt building of the University of Mosul is seen during a battle with Islamic State militants, in Mosul, Iraq, January 14, 2017. REUTERS / Ahmed Saad The Iraqi army recently announced that they had 'liberated' large parts of eastern Mosul from ISIS forces.

In that part of the city was Iraq's second-largest educational institution — the University of Mosul, which had been an ISIS stronghold since the summer of 2014.

Military officials said that taking the university was a crucial strategic gain in the battle against ISIS' caliphate in Iraq.

Over the two and a half years of occupation, thousands of rare books and manuscripts were destroyed, courses were cancelled and buildings were burnt to the ground.

Professors with links to the west or Iraqi government were sacked or executed and women were treated abhorrently, with many being punished for talking to men. Women were reportedly banned from enrolling in any subject other than medicine in 2015.

Scroll down to see the tragic, haunting remains of what was one of the Middle-East's crowning educational institutions.