Iraq and Unesco, the UN cultural organisation, have signed an agreement worth $873,000 (£546,000) in an effort to save the World Heritage Site of Samarra Archaeological City.
The project to conserve the 1,200-year-old site will start with the restoration of the Great Mosque and Al-Malwiyah Minaret, a unqiue example of the Islamic tower that incorporates a square base and a spiral exterior staircase.
Iraqi security forces have been gathering in Samarra, some 130km north of Baghdad on the banks of the river Tigris, in recent days to deter anticipated Islamic State attacks.