Since their arrival at Brooklyn in the late 1930s, the reliefs from the Northwest Palace of Ashur-nasir-pal II (883 to 859 B.C.E.), King of Assyria, have been on display in various galleries throughout the Museum. After nearly five decades on display, six of the twelve reliefs were fully conserved in 2002. Now, through the generous support of Bank of America, Brooklyn Museum’s conservators will fully treat the remaining six reliefs over the next two years.
Moving these large pieces of stone always presents a challenge, as the reliefs weigh between 1900 lbs. and 4500 lbs. each and many are broken into multiple fragments. When the reliefs were installed in their current location, the Kevorkian Galleries, in 1956, the fragments were assembled with metal dowels and plastered to the wall.
After documenting the reliefs with digital photography, condition diagrams, and written reports, Brooklyn Museum’s conservators have started the process of removing old installation materials so that the reliefs can be deinstalled for treatment.
First, Brooklyn Museum conservators, art handlers, and carpenters worked together to install tracks and padded straps around the reliefs to make sure that the objects stay secure.
Now, conservators are removing plaster, concrete, metal, and other materials from around, behind, and beneath the reliefs—timelapse above.
Conservators actually uncovered some historic newspaper, dated 1956, from behind this relief, installation encapsulating evidence of another moment in these objects’ long histories.
Posted by Victoria Schussler Timelapse by Bob Nardi
