“A Chosen Few from Nineveh and Babylonia”: On the Creation of a Plaster Cast Collection of Mesopotamian Artifacts in Madrid (Spain)

ABSTRACT In the 1870s plans were made for the opening of a plaster cast museum in Spain, the Museo de Reproducciones Artísticas de Madrid. Among the exhibits from antiquity, Greco-Roman pieces had a privileged position, but from the very beginning the museum sought to offer a more complete panorama. This article discusses archival documents that demonstrate that the acquisition of representative pieces from other geographies and chronologies was one of the key elements of the project. In addition, it offers a historiographical exploration of the shaping of the collection of plaster casts of Mesopotamian artifacts. This allows to showcase an exceptional collection that, for decades, constituted one of the few conduits through which interested audiences in Spain could gain a vision of ancient Mesopotamia. Furthermore, it offers some clues to better understand the prevalence of Assyria and the underrepresentation of Babylonia in this sample.