Exploring the Lost Objects

In fully-illustrated in-depth articles from BBC Magazine, presenter Kanishk Tharoor and producer Maryam Maruf explore the subjects of the Museum of Lost Objects.

The Winged Bull of Nineveh
One year ago a man took a pneumatic drill to the statue of a winged bull at the gates of the ancient city of Nineveh...
Palmyra – Temple of Bel
So-called Islamic State have systematically destroyed many of Palmyra's great monuments, including the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel.
Tell Qarqur, Hama Province
Decades-long archaeological studies at ancient Tell Qarqur in Syria are on hold...
Minaret of the Umayyad Mosque, Aleppo
The unique minaret of Aleppo's Great Mosque is now only a waterfall of rubble.
The Lion of al-Lat
The 2,000-year-old Lion of al-Lat was a protective spirit, the consort of a Mesopotamian goddess: it was one of the first things destroyed by so-called Islamic State when they took Palmyra in 2015.
Mar Elian Monastery
Remote Mar Elian Monastery held the 1,000-year-old tomb of a saint revered by Christians and Muslims alike. After taking Palmyra, the Islamic State group swooped to kidnap its priest and later bulldozed the site.
Al-Ma'arri the Poet
Why did the bust of a blind, vegetarian, medieval poet become a casualty of Syria's modern war?
The Genie of Nimrud
A 3000-year-old genie once adorned the walls of the great Mesopotamian stronghold of Nimrud, near Mosul. It disappeared in the 1990s, turned up in London in 2002, and is now locked in legal limbo.
The Armenian church in Deir al-Zour
Civil war has destroyed a shrine commemorating the Armenian martyrs.
Looted Sumerian seal, Baghdad
A tiny Sumerian cylinder seal depicting a harvest festival, carved in 2,600 BC, disappeared when the Iraq Museum in Baghdad was looted during the 2003 invasion.