Troy Museum giving opportunity to watch artifact restoration works live

ÇANAKKALE

Located at the entrance of the ancient city of Troy in the northwestern province of Çanakkale, which dates back to 5,000 years, the Troy Museum will offer its visitors an opportunity to watch the restoration and conservation works of ancient artifacts live within the scope of a new project.

Within the borders of Tevfikiye village in the city center, the museum covers 12,750 square meters of indoor space with 3,000 square meters of exhibition halls. Starting from Feb. 10, the museum will provide a new experience to its guests to watch and learn about the different techniques used in cleaning and restoring an artifact before it is placed on the shelves of the museum.

In this context, the Troy Museum Restoration and Conservation Laboratory will open its curtains every Wednesday. Visitors will be able to watch live the restoration and conservation processes of historical artifacts obtained in various ways during the excavations in the ancient city.

Speaking to the state-run Anadolu Agency, Troy Museum Director Rıdvan Gölcük said that what visitors see during their museum visits is actually just the tip of the iceberg.

Stating that they wanted to show the processes that the artifacts go through when they are delivered to museums after being unearthed in archaeological excavations, Gölcük said: “How is a container divided into dozens of pieces completed? How is an artifact from the sea purified from salt? How are environmental conditions optimized? How are photo and written documentation done? Our guests will have a chance to see all these processes.”

Stating that they named the project “curtains are opened” and have three restoration and conservation laboratories in the museum, Gölcük said, “All artifacts from the excavations in this region are processed in these laboratories, and we have four conservators.”

“While we are carrying out these procedures, we want to show our visitors what is the situation when an artifact is unearthed from underground, what processes are carried out, how these works can survive,
and how we ensure that they are transferred to the future. We know that our visitors are curious about this issue, and we started a new project with the motto of opening the curtains,” Gölcük said.

Noting that the curtains of the laboratories will be opened every Wednesday between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., Gölcük said: “Visitors will be able to come and watch all the work of our team live. Also, one of our staff members will help the visitors here. They will be able to ask questions to the restorers and conservators.”

“In the current season, curtains will be opened on Wednesdays, and as of April, twice a day for 45 minutes each,” he added.