Ishtar Gate Analysis

Ishtar Gate and Bronze Doors Saint Michael’s Abbey Church
II. Analysis of Artwork # 1: a. How does this work relate to its style movement and historical context? The monumental Gate of Ishtar was built in 575 B.C. making use of enamelled bricks which are in cobalt blues and sea greens. The gate is decorated with reliefs of 575 dragons and bulls (BBC Culture, 2009). The gate is the most potent symbol of ancient Babylon’s magnificence. The gate was marks the entrance to the city at the beginning of the Procession Street which represents an important thoroughfare that had been the site of parades during new years’ celebrations. It was the eighth gate of the city of Babylon (BBC Culture, 2009). The Ishtar Gate was constructed as part of King
The Ishtar Gate made the initial list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Ishtar Gate was named after the Babylonian goddess Ishtar. The animals that were carefully represented on the gate are young bulls (aurochs), lions, and dragons (sirrush). These animals are mere symbolic representations of specific Babylonian deities: lions are associated with Ishtar, bulls with Adad, and dragons with Marduk. Ishtar was a goddess of fertility, sex, love, and war. Adad was the goddess of weather god. Marduk was national god of Babylon (Garcia, 2013). The front of the gate is adorned with glazed bricks and characterized by the alternating rows of dragons and bulls. The beasts were coated in yellow and brown tiles, while the bricks surrounding them are blue. The blue enamelled tiles are made of lapis lazuli. The gates are more than 38 feet (11.5 m) high with a vast antechamber on the southern side. There is a Processional Way, a brick-paved corridor over half a mile long with walls which are over 50 feet tall (15.2 m) on each side near the gatehouse. The walls are adorned with over 120 sculptural lions, flowers, and enameled yellow tiles. The Processional Way was used for the New Year's celebration. During the celebration, the different
The Bernward Doors are the two leaves of a pair of Ottonian or Romanesque bronze doors in Hildesheim Cathedral in Germany. This art work was commissioned by Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim. The doors show relief images from the Bible, scenes from the Book of Genesis on the left door and from the life of Jesus on the right door. These are masterpieces of Ottonian art. It is also considered as the oldest known monumental image cycle in German sculpture, and also the oldest cycle of images cast in metal in Germany. The doors reflect the efforts of Bishop Bernward's efforts to establish a cultural ascendancy for the seat of his diocese with artistic masterpieces in the Ottonians art. Each leaf of the doors was cast as a single piece. It has the size (left: 472.0 x 125.0 cm, right: 472.0 x 114.5 cm, maximum thickness c. 3.5-4.5 cm) and heavy weight (both c. 1.85 tonnes). The raw material for the casting was Gunmetal, which consisted predominantly of copper with substantial lead, tin, and zinc. The Bernward Doors were manufactured through the Lost-wax process. The individual scenes of the doors were carved from massive wax tablets by modellers and then supported by an iron frame. The Bernward Doors depict scenes from the Book of Genesis (left door) arranged in parallel to scenes from the Gospels (right door). The scenes are done in such a way that Adam and Christ mirror each other - given Christ's sacrificial death redeeming Adam's sin. The left door depicts the