The Lady of Warka

We consider Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” to be one of the greatest works of art known to man. People discuss how perfectly proportionate her face is, and how great a portrayal of the human face it is. However, no one comments on a similar work of art from a much, much earlier time; “The Lady of Warka”. The Lady of Warka is considered to be the “Mona Lisa of Mesopotamia”. It is one of the earliest relief sculptures known to man (Iraqi Artifact, 1). This wonderful artifact teaches a great deal about how rich in culture and literacy the Mesopotamian civilization was. The Lady of Warka is a life-size sculpture of a woman’s face dating back around 5000 years (Banerjee, 1). It is shocking how detailed and accurate the face is, considering the time when it was made. Though not important as a functional item, the Lady of Warka is very useful educationally. Not only does it help us learn more about ancient Mesopotamian arts and culture, but it also provides a great understanding of the development of art, particularly sculptures. In 2003, following the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, chaos and looting took over the streets of Iraq. One of the places that were looted is the home of many ancient Iraqi artifacts including the Lady of Warka, the National Museum of Iraq. The theft of artifacts, though not always highly publicized, takes place quite frequently. The theft of these items is wrong as it denies people from all walks of life the chance to look into the past and understand the development and progress that humans have made. I believe that because of the instability of countries such as Iraq, artifacts such as the Lady of Warka, should be kept in an international museum in a stable country. This should be done to ensure that these artifacts are as safe as possible and that people from all over the world can come to see them. This great work of art was discovered in the 1930s, in the town of Uruk (Warka), and is considered to be the greatest cultural achievement of the