Bruceyg,
I know what you refer to , about the re-bar seen in one of the items on display , I saw and noted that too. I read up on the pieces hoping that had been the case, mostly copies.
My Post today was in reply to Maaze Post that Islamic State had now used bulldozers and other heavy equipment to destroy the persevered ruins of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, which further made your post last week on the subject of the Mosul museum a mockery of the destruction done .... you said ; " most of those if not all were plaster casts - imitation. only one was genuine"
Mosul Museum does contain some re constructed works that where incomplete or fragmented when found and repaired. That is normal. UNESCO analysts say the artefacts were original ,unique and priceless although the museum did also house copies of some items that now resided in London and Paris or that had been gifted or on loan to other museums.
The fact is that all the originals in the Mosul museum had been destroyed , toppled over , smashed with sledge hammers or attacked with drills or grinders. I checked UNESCO site and it was confirmed as listed original artefacts were destroyed . Also checked some Archaeology/History sites same conformation.
To suggest that all were imitation ,only one was genuine because there were some copies amongst the majority demeans the atrocity carried out. It would suggest that because ISIS unwittingly destroyed some copied pieces it was some how a lesser crime. ISIS did not know what was copied or original, they were there hell bent to destroy and they did. Again all originals were destroyed.
When Amir al-Jumaili, a professor at the Archaeology College in Mosul, told Associated Press: "I'm totally shocked. It's a catastrophe. With the destruction of these artefacts, we can no longer be proud of Mosul's civilisation." he was not talking about a museum full of copies. UNESCO director general Irina Bokova demanded an emergency meeting of the Security Council and called for the International Criminal Court to look into the Mosul museum destruction....to talk about plaster copies being destroyed?
Nimrud is approx. 30km from Mosul.What is true is most of Nimrud's priceless artefacts have long been moved to museums, in Mosul, Baghdad, Paris, London. They had been originally taken by the London Museum in the late 1840s and early 1850's as a result of an archaeological expedition by Sir Austen Henry Layard, at Nimrud in 1845. What was bulldozed on Thursday at Nimrud was the preserved ancient ruins and giant "lamassu" statues -- winged bulls with human heads -- and reliefs that were still on site. A giant granite Assyrian winged bull at the Nergal Gate, originally at Nimrud was destroyed a week earlier at Mosul.
The destruction at Nimrud on Thursday came a week after the jihadist group released a video showing militants armed with sledgehammers and jackhammers smashing priceless ancient artefacts at the Mosul museum.
That attack sparked world consternation and alarm, with some archaeologists and heritage experts comparing it with the 2001 demolition of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan by the Taliban. Again all this over imitations ....really ??
ISIS also burnt down Mosul Library during same exercise, which housed over 8,000 ancient manuscripts. Not copies, genuine ancient manuscripts. Just like in Mali by Extreme Islamic's.
You made not condemnation of these acts against civilisation by ISIS - your only comment was to state; " most of those if not all were plaster casts - imitation. only one was genuine" -Please explain Why ?
