A reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate has been on display in the Vorderasiatisches Museum , housed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin , since 1930. The gate was part of the walls of Babylon , which, according to older lists, were among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World [1944×2592]

The Ishtar Gate —one of the city gates of Babylon—and the Processional Way were built in their final form during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (605–562 BC). Babylon was the capital of Babylonia and was located on the Euphrates River in present-day central Iraq.

The Ishtar Gate and the Processional Way have been reconstructed in the Pergamon Museum using the original glazed mud bricks . The walls of the gate and the street are decorated with depictions of animals, symbols of the principal deities of Babylonia: the lions represent the goddess Ishtar , mistress of the sky, goddess of love, and protector of the army. The snake-like hybrid creatures ( called Mušḫuššu or Bel ) represent Marduk , the god of the city and fertility, who gave eternal life. The wild bulls symbolized the weather god Adad .

The Berlin museums reached an agreement with the Ottoman Antiquities Administration in Constantinople that the finds could be brought to Berlin for “proper treatment and assembly.” 399 crates, each containing approximately 250 brick fragments, traveled by sea from Basra to Hamburgand from there via the Elbe, Havel, and Spree rivers to the Kupfergraben in front of the Vorderasiatisches Museum . After excavations in Babylon came to a standstill due to the First World War , negotiations began in 1926 between the Berlin museums and the newly founded Iraq Museum in Baghdad about dividing the finds. The Iraqi side was persuaded that a reconstruction of the gate would only be possible by combining the new finds with those already in Berlin. Thus, in March 1927, an estimated further 400 crates full of enameled brick fragments arrived in Hamburg, from where they were transported further.

Waiting for the “it’s shtolen, return baack!” comments…