The Lion of Mosul

A colossal Assyrian guardian lions from about 860 BCE, from the Temple of Ishtar at Nimrud, Iraq. This was one of two, fifteen ton limestone statues which guarded the entrance to the temple. Its ornately carved details included cuneiform inscriptions on both sides. The fifth leg is an artistic convention to enable the figure to be seen either from the side, walking, or from the front, standing. Crowdsourced images have only partially recovered its original geometry due to the object's original placement in the museum. If more images are found, the model could be improved. This statue was destroyed in the Mosul Cultural Museum in February of 2015. Reconstructed from crowdsourced images using photogrammetry by the Rekrei.org community.