Lamassu of Nineveh
Michael Rakowitz's Lamassu of Nineveh holds the Acropolis Museum's Outdoor Garden through 31 October 2026 — the Fourth Plinth winged bull, rebuilt from Iraqi date-syrup cans, in its closing season beneath the Acropolis.
Lamassu of Nineveh is a sculptural installation by Michael Rakowitz displayed in the Outdoor Garden of the Acropolis Museum, Athens, from October 2025 through 31 October 2026. The work is a 4.3-metre winged bull with a human face, built from empty cans of Iraqi date syrup, reconstructing the Assyrian guardian deity that stood at the Nergal Gate of ancient Nineveh from around 700 BCE until its destruction in 2015. It belongs to Rakowitz’s series The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist, begun in 2006, and came to Athens from London’s Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, where it stood from 2018.
The presentation is a partnership between the Acropolis Museum and NEON, in collaboration with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Athens, co-curated by Professor Nikolaos Chr. Stampolidis, Director General of the museum, and Elina Kountouri, Director of NEON. It forms the second chapter of the trilogy Michael Rakowitz & Ancient Cultures; the first chapter, Allspice, closed in October 2025, and a final chapter is planned for the Old Acropolis Museum.
The Outdoor Garden is open without charge. The autumn of 2026 also brings an Armenian loan exhibition to the museum’s temporary gallery, a separate programme.