Resurrecting the Bull of Nimrud: 3D-Printing Defies Iconoclastic Destruction

It isn’t hard to see why the Assyrians considered the massive and monumental Bull of Nimrud sculpture to be a guardian deity. Towering at an awe-inspiring 16 feet tall, this stone carving featured an imposing supernatural creature known as the lamassu. Bearing the face of a man, the body of a bull, and the wings of a bird, scholars argue that these features represented intelligence, strength, and freedom.

This mythical being, often represented in ancient Mesopotamian reliefs, was a divine protector god, and its statue would frequently be seen standing guard outside the gates of Assyrian cities. This was the case in the city of Nimrud — an ancient city built over 3,000 years ago, which featured in the Book of Genesis.

A similar human-headed winged bull (lamassu), also from Nimrud, on display at the MET. Lamassu were used to protect and support important doorways in Assyrian palaces. (Public domain)

However, after surviving for three millennia, the Bull of Nimrud met its end in 2014 when Islamic State terrorists seized parts of northern Iraq and declared war on the city. Denouncing its historic sculptures as pagan, idolatrous, and worthy of destruction, ISIS militants filmed themselves defacing the site’s carvings with sledgehammers and drills before reducing the UNESCO site to rubble with explosives.

In 2016, in an act of symbolic defiance, a group of archaeologists and art historians in Italy used large 3D printers to reconstruct the Bull of Nimrud in full and to scale, as part of an exhibition—entitled Rising from Destruction: Ebla, Nimrod, Palmyra—which was designed to spark a debate around the importance of preserving historical and cultural monuments.

Find out how this curious replica was created, and where it is now, in the Artifact World article ‘Resurrecting the Bull of Nimrud: 3D-Printing Defies Iconoclastic Destruction’ available in the July – August 2024 51th Issue New Technology Uncovering the Past. Get it here!

Feature image: Before its destruction in 2015, the Bull of Nimrud was an imposing depiction of a supernatural creature known as the lamassu located at the North West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at the ancient city of Nimrud. Source: Public domain

By Ben Scallan