Historical Artifacts Haberleri - Son Dakika Historical Artifacts Haber Güncel Gelişmeler

A sensitive touch to Hatay's history

In Hatay, which is very rich in history and culture, historical artifacts that were under the rubble due to earthquakes in Kahramanmaraş are searched by experts meticulously. In Hatay, which was most affected by the February 6 earthquakes in Kahramanmaraş, tens of thousands of settlements and historical buildings were destroyed. In Hatay, which is very rich in history and culture, work has been started to save the historical artifacts under the rubble. In the studies carried out under the coordination of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, experts try to save the artifacts. Working in the Yeni Mosque, one of the 16th-century Ottoman mosques in Hatay's historical Uzun Bazaar, under the coordination of Associate Professor Muhammet Arslan, Head of the Department of Art History, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Kafkas University, the teams aim to reach the quality historical artifacts under the rubble. The teams, which carry out pinpoint studies in the regions where the artifacts are located, unearth the artifacts without any damage. The excavated artifacts are kept in temporary warehouses by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. If there is any damage, they are restored by expert teams and restored to their original form. “We are planning to unearth the epitapth, the crown gate and the qualified material belonging to the pulpit” Mosque, which is a work of the 16th century in terms of plan and decoration, Associate Professor Muhammet Arslan, Head of the Art History Department of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Kafkas University, stated that the mosque was repaired in the 18th and 19th centuries, and said, "We worked with our teammates in the Yeni Mosque. We aim to unearth the qualified materials of the mosque from the rubble. The mosque has two inscriptions on both the harim door and the pulpit crown door. Apart from these, there is a qualified crown door made of marble material. This door has wooden materials. Its pulpit is also beautifully crafted, made of marble. We are planning to unearth the qualified material belonging to both the inscriptions, the portal and the pulpit from the rubble." Stating that they aim to produce important materials for the mosque, Arslan said, “We need to consider the pulpit and the crown door as a whole. 30-40 pieces belonging to these will be qualified materials that we will obtain. At the same time, the fountain is very important. Because this is a social complex. In the same way, there are stones with architectural ornaments in the fountain. We aim to unearth them from the rubble." They are looking for historical artifacts with the meticulousness of a doctor. Stating that he approaches the search and rescue activities of historical monuments with sensitivity, Arslan said, “I liken this work to search and rescue activities. In the first days of the earthquake, rescue teams headed directly to the bedroom to reach the people, because the earthquake was at night. Since we know the location of qualified materials such as inscriptions, columns, column capitals, portals, altars, pulpits, wooden door wings in historical buildings, we directly head to that area and apply a different methodology, which we call debris archeology, to unearth our artifacts in a solid or sometimes broken, fragmentary way. Stating that after the cleaning and inventory procedures, the artifacts will be taken under protection and restoration will be carried out if necessary, Arslan said, “After we do the necessary documentation, cleaning and inventory work, we take them to our temporary excavation house warehouse. Our damaged artifacts are put in their original places after the necessary restoration work has been carried out by the restorators in the laboratories by the relevant units of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism." “We have 720 registered cultural assets in an area of 307 hectares in Hatay" Stating that there are many cultural assets in a wide geography in Hatay, Arslan said, “Antakya is a very important region in terms of cultural assets. It is an important urban and archaeological site with both its historical and cultural texture. We have 720 registered cultural assets in Hatay. We are talking about an area of 307 hectares in total. We have been working here for about 50 days. We continue our program here with a team of 16 scientists from 9 different universities, 21 of whom are our students, and especially art historians, archaeologists, architects and civil engineers, accompanied by our undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students.”

New excavations have started in the city of gladiators

The excavations started in 1977 in Stratonikeia, which is known as the "city of gladiators" and shown as one of the largest marble cities in the world, continues for 12 months. In the ancient city, which is important for the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine as well as the Menteşe Principality, Ottoman and Republican periods, new artifacts are brought to light every year, and historical buildings in the city are restored. The structures in Stratonikeia Ancient City take visitors on a journey through time with its 3D technology. "We found 1216 artifacts last year" Head of the Stratonikeia Ancient City Excavations Committee Prof Dr Bilal Söğüt told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the structures from different periods in the historical area have been preserved as a whole. Stating that they had a productive work period last year, Söğüt said, "We delivered 1216 artifacts that we unearthed in 2022 to the Muğla Museum. Although we have just started this year, we have reached 37 artifacts in the excavations. Especially in the city, we are digging the area that we can call the center and main street of the main city, where the Roman bath, west street, parliament building and Ağa Konakları are located." Söğüt stated that the restoration works in the city continue and they carry out projects with the Governor's Office and Yatağan Municipality. Pointing out that they work with women from the neighborhoods of Yatağan in the ancient city, Söğüt said, "Our employees are mostly women. We had a very productive process together last year. We will continue to work in the field in the same way this year." "We are making an effort to promote the ancient city and Yatağan" Yatağan Mayor Mustafa Toksöz noted that thanks to the excavations, many people brought bread to their homes and that historical and cultural places were cleaned and organized in a better way. Expressing that they believe Stratonikeia is the most important ancient city of Muğla, Toksöz said: "As Yatağan, we will participate in the Eastern Mediterranean International Tourism and Travel Fair EMITT for the first time on April 10-16. At the fair, we will arrange the entrance of our Governor's stand as the entrance gate of Stratonikeia. We have tried to create an environment where the tourists can have a good time, visit and understand the history. The ancient city has become a city where a citizen, a tourist can come and spend time until the evening and feed self in a historical and cultural sense. Toksöz noted that they restored the village coffeehouse in the ancient city square, and the restoration work of the headman's mansion continues.

12 historical artifacts seized in the USA were returned to the Turkish authorities

New York The historical artifacts, which were decided to be given to Turkey as a result of long trials, were returned with a ceremony at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in which New York Consul General Reyhan Özgür and officials from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism were present. In his speech at the ceremony, Consul General Özgür thanked New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg and the agents of the Homeland Security Investigation Bureau. Özgür said, "I appreciate the cooperation we have achieved in recent years in the fight against smuggling of cultural and historical artifacts. We achieve fruitful results with the stable and seamless communication established between the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, the Homeland Security Investigations team and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey." Stating that their joint work on historical artifacts strengthens the cooperation between Turkey and the USA, Özgür expressed that they are also a source of inspiration for the global community fighting against smuggling of cultural assets. New York District Attorney's assistants Matthew Bogdanos and Lisa DelPizzo also emphasized in their speech that they are happy that the historical artifacts in question have been identified and returned to their respective lands, and that they will continue to work closely with Turkey on this issue. After the speeches made in the hall where the works were exhibited, the handover process was completed with the signatures of Consul General Özgür and DelPizzo. Works are being sent to Turkey today Officials of the New York Cultural Attaché stated that 12 valuable historical artifacts belonging to different regions of Turkey such as Burdur, Konya, Şanlıurfa, Çanakkale, Manisa, Antalya and Eastern Anatolia will be sent to Turkey with THY Cargo today. Authorities noted that the bronze Septimus Severus statue from Burdur's Boubon Ancient City, which is among the returned artifacts, has a special importance. The list of historical artifacts seized in the USA and delivered to the Turkish authorities is as follows: "Bronze bull chariot (2 pieces), Roman period military diploma, Neolithic Pilgrims Mother Goddess figure, Urartian period terracotta vase, Roman period bronze bust crowned male head, Killia type marble idol, Oinochoe from the Ancient City of Hydai, stone figurine from Çatalhöyük, Rome Tetrarch statue head of the period, statue head from Perge Theater, Bubon bronze arm and Septimius Severus statue."

Heavy stone artifacts started to be moved to the new museum

Afyonkarahisar Artifacts in the old museum garden, mostly consisting of columns and wall pieces, started to be moved to the new museum built on the Afyonkarahisar-İzmi highway with cranes and work machines. In the statement made on the social media account of the Afyonkarahisar Culture and Tourism Directorate regarding the relocation, “We started to move the artifacts to the new museum. After long preparatory work, we started to move the historical artifacts to the new museum. We will continue the relocation work, which we started with heavy stone works, separately for the garden, warehouse and exhibition part."

The historical artifacts under the rubble are being examined

Disaster Area Excavation Head Assoc. Dr. Muhammed Arslan: "The inscriptions are like the identity cards of the work" "We are removing the quality material under the rubble as soon as possible in a sheltered and safe manner, inventorying it and delivering it to the relevant museums to be used again in restorations." The team led by Assoc. Dr. Muhammet Arslan, Head of the Department of Art History at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Kafkas University and Head of Disaster Area Excavations, takes inventory of the historical artifacts destroyed or damaged in the earthquake in Hatay, like a detective. Two major earthquakes in Kahramanmaraş caused the most destruction in Hatay among 11 cities. In addition to thousands of buildings in the city, many historical monuments were left under ruins. A scientific committee was formed to restore the cultural and historical monuments such as mosques, masjids, baths, fountains and churches within the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Within the frame of the work of the Board, a unit was established to invent the qualified artifacts in the damaged historical buildings in 11 cities that were exposed to the earthquake and to establish a basis for restoration. Providing information about the works, Kafkas University Faculty of Arts and Sciences Art History and Head of Disaster Area Excavations Assoc. Dr. Muhammet Arslan noted that in the earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş, cities and cultural assets were affected as much as citizens. Explaining that the place where this earthquake was felt the most was Hatay, Arslan said, “The majority of our registered cultural assets in Antakya were destroyed, there are some heavily damaged and partially damaged works. Our Ministry of Culture and Tourism took swift action to protect these artifacts. A scientific committee was established in order to protect cultural assets. With the decision of the board, first of all, the qualified works in our cultural assets, because these works are not only works that rise from the carriers, but also with their inscriptions, which are like the identity cards of those works. They are also historical documents. With their inscriptions, plastic decorated stones, door wings, altars, pulpits, columns and column capitals, these are the elements that add a soul to these works." "About 50 works were damaged" Arslan emphasized that they removed the quality material from the wreckage as soon as possible in a sheltered and safe manner, inventoried and delivered to the relevant museums to be reused in restorations. Stating that they are in Hatay with a team of 30 volunteers, mainly academics from different provinces of Turkey, Arslan stated that they will carry out similar studies not only in Hatay but also in other 10 provinces affected by the earthquake. Noting that around 50 registered cultural assets were damaged in Hatay, Arslan said, "Mosques, churches, baths, fountains, and many housing examples have been damaged," said Arslan.

USA did not return 6,000-year-old marble idol

Turkey's appeal case filed in the USA for the return of the marble idol named Guennol Stargazer (Guennol Star Hunter) has been rejected. The 6,000-year-old marble idol cannot be retrieved from Michael Steinhardt and Christie's Auction House, which is selling the piece in New York. Turkey cannot retrieve its stolen 6,000-year-old marble idol from Christie's Auction House and hedge fund billionaire Michael Steinhardt in the USA. The historical artifact smuggled from Turkey was sold for approximately $14.5 million at an auction held by Christie's Auction House in New York in 2017. Turkey, through the Ministry of Culture, objected to the sale and requested the return of the work. The lawsuit filed by Turkey against Michael Steinhardt and Christie's Auction House for the return of the marble idol named Guennol Stargazer (Guennol Star Hunter), who offered the work for sale in New York, was rejected, and the case was appealed. The US court of appeals rejected the extradition request, claiming that Turkey waited a long time to file a plagiarism charge. "THE RETURN REQUEST WAS MADE LATE" The 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan said Turkey "has reason to know" that the female statue of Guennol Star Hunter may have been unfairly removed from its land in the 1990s. He added that Turkey expects to sue Christie and Steinhardt, the owner of the idol, by April 2017, when the auction house lists it for sale. The court judge found it unreasonable for Turkey not to bring its allegation until 2017 or even to investigate it, saying that "Turkey remained undecided despite receiving signs from its Ministry of Culture that the statue was in New York." Turkey's lawyer, Lawrence Kaye, stated that Turkey is the owner of the idol and is "zealous" in defending its rights, and said that she acted in consideration of the country's next steps. Kaye stated that this decision will not deter Turkey from demanding back the cultural assets stolen from it. THE COURT SAID "THE WORK WAS NOT HIDDEN" Turkey bases its claim that the statue belongs to the country on an Ottoman decree published in 1906. In Turkey's defense, it was stated that it was not possible to investigate every piece in the large collection of antiquities whose whereabouts were unknown. In the defense, the thesis was defended that until the auction catalogue, in which Christie's Auction House disclosed the source of the statue, there was no awareness of the situation and that this was not necessary. The court said the statue has been on display at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art for over 30 years, and throughout the 1990s the Department of Culture published articles and presentations on the subject. "Stargazer was not kept in secrecy," the presiding judge said in his decision. BUYER CANCELED AT LAST TIME Investor Michael Steinhardt and his wife, the fund billionaire, paid $1.5 million in 1993 for the 22.9 cm tall statue. Christie's auctioned it for $14.5 million, but the buyer backed out.

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