A destroyed artifact in the Mosul Museum on March 8 Photo: IC
A stone relief of Nergal Nike Air Max Schweiz , God of the Underworld, previously on display at the Mosul Museum Photo: IC
It was once home to priceless archaeological treasures, but these days you get into the Mosul Museum in Iraq's second city via a gaping hole in the basement.
In the darkness lies a pile of rubble - all that remains of two ancient Assyrian statues of winged bulls, smashed to pieces by Islamic State group jihadists.
Iraqi forces announced that they retook the building from IS on March 6 as they pushed into west Mosul as part of a vast offensive to oust the jihadists from the northern city.
Taking the museum was a symbolic victory.
In a notorious video issued in February 2015, the jihadists were seen attacking items at the museum with sledgehammers and pneumatic drills, destroying priceless pre-Islamic artefacts.
Today Air Max Schweiz , the museum is in ruins - nothing escaped the attackers.
In a darkened hall, a heap of stones marks the spot where tourists once admired two imposing ""lamassu"" statues, Assyrian winged bulls with human faces.
The two-meter-tall monuments weighed more than four tons, according to Iraqi archaeologist Layla Salih.
In the rubble, what appear to be the remains of carved legs and wings can be seen. Other pieces of smashed stone bear inscriptions in the cuneiform alphabet.
From time to time, an explosion rocks the building, a plain structure of ochre rock, as Iraqi forces fire rockets at IS positions.
On the first floor, two Iraqi snipers huddle behind narrow windows, their weapons trained. An IS sniper is operating nearby.
Assyria Air Max 97 Herren Schweiz , with its capital Nineveh in the area of present-day Mosul, was a kingdom in northern Mesopotamia that became one of the most powerful empires in the ancient Middle East.
Assyrian art is famous for its bas-reliefs showing scenes of war.
As well as the two lamassu, the museum housed a winged lion of similar proportions, says Salih.
The three lost sculptures ""were among the most valuable pieces in the museum,"" she says.
The building had housed 100 objects, she adds Air Max 97 Damen Schweiz , and all but six of them were originals.
""Antiquities weighing more than four tons were impossible for them to steal, so they were destroyed on the spot.""
The second-most important museum in Iraq, the building also housed Hellenic objects dating from centuries
IPTV und Fernsehen übers Internet
Thema drucken
06.03.2019 02:55
Antworten
