Sculptures destroyed by Isis re-created by a young teen

When the centuries-old artifacts in Nimrud were destroyed by a group of Islamic extremists, the whole world was sad. The group’s mission seems focused on the destruction of all things that they deem idolatrous and they use sledgehammers and electric drills to deface the historical work of arts but legendary artists.

An Assyrian Christian Nenous Thabit who is 17 years of age decided to fight back against the terrorists by recreating the destroyed sculptures. The young teen believed that the 3,000 years old artifacts are the creation of his ancestors and so to bring honor to his family, young Thabit started creating sculptures that imitate some of the Assyrian artifacts destroyed in Nimrud and in other areas deemed ancient, also in Mosul.

Thabit’s favorite artifact is an Assyrian deity Lamassu, and it has a lion body, a human head, ox legs and vulture wings. It’s the strongest creature in the Assyrian heritage.

The young sculpture understands the risk of what he is doing. He knows that in Iraq, sculptures have been killed because they are viewed as an apostate by ISIS. But continuing to sculpt sends a message that he is not scared of them. ISIS declared war against art and their culture, and the young sculpture chose to fight back using incredible art.




Thabit Michael,  Nenous father trained his son since he was seven years old in sculpting. In the past year, young Thabit sculpted 18 Assyrian statues and one mural. Thabit wants to go to an art school in the Kurdish city of Dohu in order to fulfill his dream of becoming a prominent artist to make his Iraq country proud. He wants to show the world that Iraq loves life and they do value their culture and heritage.