ABSTRACT
In February 2015, the deity was destroyed by the then rampant forces of the self-styled Islamic State, hereafter referred to as Daesh, alongside numerous artifacts in the Mosul Museum—the latter, in terms of its collection of cultural artifacts, being second only to the renowned National Museum of Iraq in the Baghdad. The cumulative physical destruction during this time, including that of cultural artifacts and monuments, was likewise all-encompassing, with the entire Old City of Mosul—including the Great Mosque of al-Nuri—destroyed. The video of the destruction in Mosul, released three years prior to the unveiling of the Rakowitz’s project in Trafalgar Square, begins with a verse from the Koran on idol worship and is followed by an admonishing lecture of sorts on the Assyrian and Akkadian polytheism, the latter used as the ostensible reason for destroying the supposedly idolatrous statues.
