ISIL fighters smash artefacts in Mosul Museum.

NMDC (UK) enews, March 2015

ICOM and museums around the world have responded to images of ISIL fighters apparently destroying ancient statues in the Mosul museum.

ICOM said that it was “deeply concerned for the safety of museum professionals in Iraq and mourns the loss of invaluable cultural heritage due to this reprehensible attack.”  The British Museum said it was difficult to verify what was happening in the film in the absence of further information and Channel 4 has suggested that many of the objects were plaster reproductions.  However, a seventh century stone bull is likely to have been an original.

Meanwhile the Iraqi Museum in Baghdad has reopened, 12 years after being looted.  The ceremony was brought forward in response to events in Mosul. Channel 4, ICOM, BBC, Museums Journal

See also: Martin Bailey, Nineveh gate and Mosul museum attacked by Islamic State fanatics, The Art Newspaper, 6 March 2015