Babylon’s Gate Ended Up in Berlin

Added: 2026-06-04

[00:00:00]This looks like the Gate of Babylon, except it is not in Babylon, it is in Berlin.

[00:00:06]King Nebuchadnezzar built the Ishtar Gate more than 2,500 years ago, covered in blue glazed brick and sacred animals.

[00:00:13]But archaeologists [music] did not find a complete gate standing in the desert.

[00:00:16]They found pieces, tiny glazed fragments broken out of the ruins of Babylon.

[00:00:22]Those fragments were packed into crates, shipped to Germany, [music] cleaned, strengthened, and sorted like a giant blue puzzle. In Berlin, workers rebuilt the lions, bulls, and dragons one brick at a time.

[00:00:34]What you see today is part ancient Babylon, part modern reconstruction.

[00:00:38]>> [music] >> It saved a vanished monument from dust, but it also moved Babylon's most famous image thousands of miles from Iraq.

[00:00:46]So is this preservation or history taken out of place?