Ishtar Gate

The eighth gate of the inner walls of Babylon, built around 575 BC on the orders of Nebuchadnezzar II. It is faced with blue glazed bricks carrying low reliefs of bulls and dragons (the mušḫuššu, sacred animal of Marduk); the lions decorated the Processional Way that led up to it. The Berlin reconstruction mixes excavated ancient bricks with modern replacement pieces.