Balawat

Balawat is an archaeological site in northern Iraq’s Nineveh Governorate notable for remains from the Neo-Assyrian period, including elaborately decorated gate bands. The site is primarily important for the metal relief bands known collectively as the Balawat Gates.

The best-known remains are the metal bands that once decorated palace gates; these bands are carved with battle and procession scenes and are the principal finds associated with the site. Many of those bands were recovered during 19th-century excavations and removed to overseas collections.

Excavations in the late 19th century exposed elements of an Assyrian palace complex and the decorated gate bands; those finds have been essential to study of Neo-Assyrian royal art and propaganda. The site represents occupation and monumental construction in the first millennium BCE under the Assyrian state.

Geographically the site sits in the floodplain/riverine region of northern Mesopotamia in Nineveh Governorate, within the broader area of the ancient Assyrian heartland and relatively close to the modern city of Mosul.

• Museum holdings: Fragments from the site were removed during 19th-century excavations and are now dispersed among collections including the British Museum and museums in Turkey.

What to See #

• Balawat Gates: Surviving decorated bronze and copper-alloy bands recovered from excavations in the 19th century that once ornamented a Neo-Assyrian palace gateway; many fragments are now held in international museums.