The Lamassu (3) - 1 April 2018

I am a fan of the Fourth Plinth (in Trafalgar Square) although infrequent visits to the capital mean that I have not seen all of its occupants in the Mayor of London's Fourth Plinth Programme. This is the 12th.

Michael Rakowitz's project, 'The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist', to recreate the 7000 archaelogical artefacts looted or destroyed in Iraq during the war, started in 2006.

The Lamassu was a winged deity which guarded Nergal Gate at Ninevah, near the present day Mosul, from c700BC until its destruction in 2015. In a searing social comment, the Lamassu on the Fourth Plinth is made from Iraqi date syrup cans. The industry was much reduced by the Iraq wars.

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