In these words, the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II, who ruled from 883 through 859 B.C., describes the founding of his new capital city, Kalhu (modern Nimrud), and the construction of his palace. The mounds of Nimrud rise abruptly from the plain on the east bank of the Tigris River about twenty miles south of the modern town of Mosul in northern Iraq. On the raised terrace of the citadel, the Northwest Palace, begun by Ashurnasirpal and completed by his successors, covers an immense area more than 650 feet long and 390 feet wide. The citadel was contained within the massive city wall, which had a circuit of five miles and enclosed approximately nine hundred acres.

Ashurnasirpal II built his palace in the northwest section of the citadel of Nimrud. The palace was organized around three large courtyards. State apartments and the major throne room were situated around the first courtyard. The second was surrounded by rooms devoted to the internal business of the palace, while the innermost courtyard belonged to the harem. Beneath its rooms was a tomb belonging to three Assyrian queens.

The state apartments were decorated in a fashion not found in earlier Mesopotamian royal buildings. Huge stone slabs, carved with scenes of figures in relief and inscribed with a record of important events in the king's reign, lined the sun-dried mud-brick walls. Wooden furniture adorned with carved ivory panels was used throughout the palace.

View a virtual reality reconstruction and a drawn rendering of the interior of the palace.