Judith Dekel

Sennacherib’s “Palace Without a Rival,” at Nineveh. “The architectural setting of the Lachish reliefs,” says author Ussishkin, “was ingeniously designed to impress the beholder and instill in him awe, respect and admiration for the deeds and triumphs of the great monarch who had inspired them.” The viewer entered this room of reliefs through a magnificent triple entry flanked by enormous winged bulls with human faces. Artist Judith Dekel’s reconstruction of the triple entry evokes its dramatic visual impact. The second and third portals and pairs of colossi were progressively smaller. Thus, anyone standing at the outer portal perceived the Lachish Room at the rear as farther away than it actually was.