The Assyrian and Babylonian collection was brought from present day Iraq (1850s, cut into pieces...) Assyrian winged, human-headed bulls (left): spiritual gateway guardians in the palaces of Assyrian kings, supposed to repel evil spirits. This pair is from Niniveh (710 BC). These colossus (60 tons) always came in pairs. With human crowned heads always depicting the face of an Assyrian king! 5 legs:supposed to be viewed either from the side (4 legs) or the front (2 legs).

Egyptian Collection: Ramesses II and a scribe (upper right). The bust of Ramesses II was part of a colossal statue of him from his temple in Thebes (1270 BC). There is an amazing number of mummies in beautiful coffins, canopic jars, papyrus Book of the Dead, magical figures, animals, wall paintings, statues, jewellery, etc.

Greek and Roman Collection: Parthenon Sculptures from Athens (bottom right). The Parthenon was the no.1 temple in ancient Athens, dedicated to the patron of the city: Athena; built in the 5th c. BC. The Acropolis was stripped by Lord Elgin, the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire

during the first two decades of the 1800s. At first Elgin only asked for permission to make sketches of the temple, then realising that the Ottomans could be bribed he obtained questionable permissions to take off some pieces. Having built scaffolds around the temple his men started sawing off  as many sculptures as they could and shipping them to London. The Tympanum sculptures fell down accidentally and broke into pieces, then some of the finest pieces sank with one of Elgin's ships soon after setting sail. Byron who witnessed these acts of ruthless greed on Lord Elgin's part called it: "the last plunder of the bleeding land" (in his poem Childe Harold). Byron died in Greece fighting in the Greek War of Independence (1824).

Greece has repeatedly asked Britain to return the sculptures, but so far to no avail...