![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOiGTihVZNb6ZllI8LuHOUC0SXH-1b0DLV7vay2_kqo1EV39DQvUvAk94-6-IHOnCQoFRbWuyoeuBfPvkpQ9TFp2oOhtk_BVdu7Sfsa1JXcu7bSQT5BzRHyM3kn3wM3Td4atrmz002i9w/s400/gaspa+assyrian.jpg)
At sixteen tons each, the statues are amongst the heaviest items in the Museum and were discovered by French archaeologist Paul-Emile Botta in the 1840s, but were deemed too heavy to move by the French, and left behind following the excavation. .In 1849 Henry Rawlinson, a British resident in Baghdad, arranged to buy them from the French consul, and cut them up into pieces to transport them.
For more, see http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/c/colossal_winged_bull.aspx
A curious thing about these beasts is that they have five legs each!
ReplyDeleteI've never noticed that. How odd...
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