Copy 1

Nineveh and its remains: with an account of a visit to the Chaldaean Christians of Kurdistan, and the Yezidis, or devil-worshippers; and an enquiry into the manners and arts of the ancient Assyrians / [Sir Austen Henry Layard].

  • Layard, Austen Henry, 1817-1894.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Nineveh and its remains: with an account of a visit to the Chaldaean Christians of Kurdistan, and the Yezidis, or devil-worshippers; and an enquiry into the manners and arts of the ancient Assyrians / [Sir Austen Henry Layard]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    59/472 (page 17)
    Assyria, in the hope that, should success attend the attempt, means would be found to carry it out on an adequate scale. I received with joy the offer of commencing and carrying on these excavations. The means were now at my disposal to prosecute a work which I had so Ions; desired to undertake. The reader will not, I trust, be disinclined to join with me in feelings of gratitude towards one who, whilst he has maintained so successfully the honour and interests of England by his high character and eminent abilities, has acquired for his country so many great monuments of ancient civilisation and art.# It is to Sir Stratford Canning we are mainly indebted for the collection of Assyrian antiquities with which the British Museum will be enriched; without his liberality and public spirit the treasures of Nimroud would have been reserved for the enterprise of those who have ap¬ preciated the value and importance of the discoveries at Khorsabad. The enlightened and liberal spirit shown by M. Botta is unfortunately not generally shared. It was, A I need scarcely remind the reader that it is to Sir S. Canning we owe the marbles of Halicarnassus now in the British Museum. The diffi¬ culties which stood in the way of the acquisition of those invaluable relics, and the skill which was required to obtain them, are not generally known. I can testify to the efforts and labour which w~ere necessary for nearly three years before the repugnance of the Ottoman government could be overcome, and permission obtained to extract the sculptures from the walls of a castle, which was more jealously guarded than any similar edifice in the empire. Their removal, notwithstanding the almost insur¬ mountable difficulties raised by the authorities and inhabitants of Budroon, was most successfully effected by Mr. Alison. The Elgin marbles, and all other remains from Turkey or Greece now in Europe, were obtained with comparative ease. VOL. I. C