Destroyed by IS, ancient winged bull to rise again in London

LONDON - An ancient Assyrian winged bull sculpture destroyed by Islamic State fighters in 2015 is to be remade from empty Iraqi date syrup cans and displayed in Trafalgar Square in London.

The work by US artist Michael Rakowitz has won the next commission for the square's unoccupied Fourth Plinth, upon which a series of 11 new artworks have been displayed since 1999, organizers said on Tuesday.

The original winged bull, a protective deity known as the Lamassu, stood from about 700 BC at a gate of the ancient city of Nineveh on the outskirts of the modern-day Iraqi city of Mosul, a former Islamic State stronghold now being besieged by Iraqi forces.