Our Hell will rise from ashes

It was one of the best known works of art destroyed in the huge fire that ripped through the Momart warehouse.

Now Hell, by the incorrigible Young British Artists Jake and Dinos Chapman, is to rise from the ashes.

The brothers have begun work to create a new bigger and updated version of their most famous sculpture.

Dinos Chapman said: "It would be a stupid waste of time to remake that (original work). But we are going to make a sculpture that will be a bigger, better version."

The original Hell was an enormous tableau, in the shape of a swastika, on which thousands of painstakingly rendered tiny Nazi soldiers looted and pillaged.

It is understood that the new work, while inspired by the original, is to incorporate scenes from the Iraq war and perhaps even the terrorist attacks of September 11.

The Chapmans do not expect the work to be complete until next year at the earliest.

The original destroyed in the blaze had been snapped up by Charles Saatchi for £500,000.

Mr Saatchi lost works by artists including Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin in the Momart fire. It is not known whether the Chapmans or their gallery the White Cube will give Mr Saatchi first option to buy the new, reborn vision of Hell.

The Chapmans' ambitious plans were revealed as new details about the blaze in Leyton on 24 May emerged.

The warehouse was rented from a local household removals firm, Goldstar Removals, The Guardian reveals today.

Momart's managing director, Eugene Boyle, has refused to comment on what fire protection the Momart warehouse had, or why the storage company had rented space in a building shared with dozens of other businesses.