The sculptural installation Lamassu of Nineveh by Michael Rakowitz at the outdoor area of the Acropolis Museum

The Acropolis Museum and NEON present the second part of the trilogy Michael Rakowitz & Ancient Cultures – Lamassu of Nineveh (2018), a work by Michael Rakowitz curated by Professor Nikolaos Chr. Stampolidis, Director-General of the Acropolis Museum, and Elina Kountouri, Director of NEON.

The sculptural installation is presented in the outdoor area on the west side of the Acropolis Museum, facing Mitseon Street.

The work is part of Rakowitz’s ongoing series The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist, which he began in 2006. The project involves “reappearances” of objects looted from the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad after the 2003 U.S. invasion, as well as those destroyed in other archaeological sites following the war. Lamassu of Nineveh (2018) was originally commissioned for The Fourth Plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square. Made from metal cans of Iraqi date syrup, it recreates a 4.3-meter-long sculpture of a winged bull – a protective Assyrian deity that stood at the entrance of Nineveh’s Nergal Gate from around 700 BCE until February 2015, when it was destroyed by ISIS along with objects in the nearby Mosul Museum.

Its placement at the Acropolis Museum situates the Lamassu in dialogue with the archaeological excavation and the ancient city beneath the Museum, as well as with the contemporary building, the Acropolis rock with its monuments, and the surrounding urban landscape.

For his Lamassu, Rakowitz uses metal tins from empty cans of Iraqi date syrup, symbolizing the once-renowned Iraqi industry that has since been decimated, and pointing to the human, economic, and ecological devastations caused by the Iraq wars and their aftermath. Through his objects, Rakowitz invokes the people who lived with them and their stories. The Lamassu “reappears,” continuing its protective role as a guardian of the past, present, and future.

The reverse side of the Lamassu bears a cuneiform inscription that was not visible in its original location, as it was embedded in the wall of the Nergal Gate. Here, in its displaced and fragmented state, the inscription is revealed and translated as follows:

“Sennacherib, king of the world, king of Assyria, made the (inner) and outer walls of Nineveh rebuild and raised them as high as a mountain/mountains.”

The collaboration between the Ministry of Culture, the Acropolis Museum, the Ephorate of Antiquities of Athens, and NEON reflects an in-depth dialogue between contemporary works and ancient artifacts, highlighting enduring themes of cultural heritage, loss and restitution, survival and creativity. Greek antiquities and objects from ancient cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East enter into conversation with the multifaceted work of the internationally acclaimed artist Michael Rakowitz, which stands at the core of the trilogy.

The first part of the trilogy, the exhibition Allspice | Michael Rakowitz & Ancient Cultures, is currently on view in the Temporary Exhibition Hall of the Acropolis Museum until 31 October 2025, while the trilogy will conclude at the Old Acropolis Museum.

Lecture

As part of the exhibition Lamassu of Nineveh, a lecture by Dr. Alda Benjamen titled Heritage, Genocide, and Memory will be held on Monday, October 6, 2025, at 18:00, in the Auditorium of the Acropolis Museum. Admission is free to the public.

According to Dr. Benjamen, the Lamassu symbolizes glory, while telling a story of displacement, destruction, and re-creation. It embodies the bonds between objects and people-their triumphs, struggles, and livelihoods-through food, art, writing, and memory. It has survived a genocide that aimed to erase ancient heritage and the connections it represents-connections to the past that are multilingual, religious, and cultural. Remembering the Lamassu reflects the memory of a people and a community, along with the image of an invisible enemy-imagined, terrifying, yet unreal.

Dr. Alda Benjamen (b. Kirkuk, Iraq) is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Dayton, specializing in modern Middle Eastern history. She was recently a member of the Avimalek Betyousef Faculty in the Department of History and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Previously, she was a Fellow at the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress and a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Pennsylvania Museum and the Smithsonian Institution.

She has also served as Director of Research for a cultural heritage preservation program funded by the U.S. Department of State, focusing on marginalized communities in Iraq, including Assyrians and Yazidis.