iCaixaForum BarcelonaMontjuïc
Soy Asurbanipal, rey del mundo, rey de Asiria
Assyrian treasures from the British Museum trace the life of Ashurbanipal (669-631 BC): warrior, scholar, lion hunter and builder of a great library.
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Preview: written before the show opened
One of the loans is a red sandstone stela on which the most powerful man in the Near East carries a ritual basket of earth on his head. Ashurbanipal is shown as a labourer, helping to rebuild the temple of E-Zida at Borsippa in the 660s BC.
The show brings more than 150 pieces from the British Museum, selected by Sébastien Rey, its curator of ancient Mesopotamia. The museum's text promises both sides: a ruler who held his territories through violence and terror as well as strategy and diplomacy, and who gathered cuneiform tablets meant to hold all existing knowledge. Wanting everything in one place is also how you ended up with 300 saved Instagram restaurants in Barcelona you will never book.
One general ticket costs €6 and covers all exhibitions; it is free for CaixaBank customers and under-16s. Booking had not opened when this was written. CaixaForum is open daily 10:00 to 20:00, and guided visits (€4) start on 21 November.
Editor's pick
On the Borsippa stela, Ashurbanipal carries a basket of earth on his head: a king posing as a builder. More than 150 British Museum pieces, from Nimrud ivories to a basalt lion's head from Carchemish, fill in his empire.
Look for
The basket-carrying king
A red sandstone stela from Borsippa shows Ashurbanipal with a basket of earth on his head for the rebuilding of E-Zida.
The sphinx bowl
A bronze bowl from Nineveh, made around 645-640 BC, is decorated with four pairs of winged sphinxes and a falcon's head.
The roaring lion
A grey basalt lion's head, mouth open, comes from Carchemish on today's Syria-Turkey border and dates to the 9th century BC.
The ivories from Nimrud
They include a fire-blackened head from an openwork panel and a carving of a woman leaning out of a window.
The musicians' box
An ivory cylindrical box from Nimrud has a continuous scene of musicians running around it.
Good for
- Cheap Culture
- Nerding Out
- Rainy Days
With kids
Under-16s enter free. A free reading and play space linked to the show runs from 21 November to 28 March.
Free in the same building
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Image credits
7
- Soy Asurbanipal, rey del mundo, rey de AsiriaCourtesy of CaixaForum Barcelona
- Sim Acquisition, Drawing and WarCourtesy of Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC)
- Wounded Militiaman: The Recovery of an Irredeemable PaintingCourtesy of Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC)
- DividedCourtesy of Fundació Joan Miró
- CaixaForum BarcelonaVictoriano Javier Tornel García / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC)Jvhertum / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Fundació Joan MiróCanaan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0