Sew La Ti Embroidery:
Exhibitions

  • Travel: Orpheus Mosaic on display at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum

    Travel: Orpheus Mosaic on display at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum
    The Mosaic of Orpheus, which was unearthed during illegal excavations in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa and smuggled abroad more than 60 years ago, is now back on display in its home, 1,821 years after it was created.

    Orpheus Mosaic on display at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum
    After returning from the US, the Mosaic of Orpheus, dated to A.D. 194, was put 
    on display at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum for nearly a year before being
     returned to Şanlıurfa, and is now back on display in its home,
     1,821 years after it was created [Credit: AA]

    Şanlıurfa Museum Director Müslüm Ercan said the Şanlıurfa Museum Complex, which opened last month, was home to many precious artifacts. “One of these artifacts is this mosaic,” he added.

    He noted that the mythological poet Orpheus’ mosaic was believed to have been created in 194 A.D., and that it was being displayed in a special area in the museum.

    In the mythological story, Orpheus goes to Hades to ask for his wife, Eurydice, after she received a fatal bite from a viper. Skilled at the lyre, Orpheus softened the heart of Hades, who gave him permission to take back Eurydice to the world above, provided that he not look back at her until both had exited the underworld.

    Orpheus, however, looked back at his wife after he had exited the land of the dead, but before she had also crossed the threshold into the world above. As punishment, Eurydice was immediately taken back into the underworld, this time forever.

    “A source of inspiration for many philosophical schools, Orpheus is a figure that decorates the ground of many rock tombs since it is related to the underworld and death. In our mosaics, Orpheus calms wild animals with his lyre and all of the animals gather to listen to his music,” Ercan said.

    Found at Dallas Museum of Art

    Ercan said they had made attempts to repatriate the mosaic when they discovered that it was on display at the Dallas Museum of Art. “The Culture and Tourism Ministry sent a letter to our museum to examine the issue. Its style was exactly the same as the Şanlıurfa region’s typical Syriac mosaics. With the detailed work of the ministry, the chief public prosecutor’s office and the museum, the mosaic was returned from the U.S. in 2012.”

    After returning from the U.S., the mosaic was put on display at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum for nearly a year before being returned to Şanlıurfa.

    The Mosaic of Orpheus, dated to A.D. 194, is known as the earliest Edessa – the Hellenistic name for Şanlıurfa – mosaic that archaeologists have yet dated. The mosaic was taken abroad by smugglers after its discovery by J.B. Segal in 1950 in Şanlıurfa.

    Source: Hurriyet Daily News [June 10, 2015]

  • Travel: Key Artifacts from ISIS-endangered Palmyra, Syria on view at the Freer and Sackler Galleries

    Travel: Key Artifacts from ISIS-endangered Palmyra, Syria on view at the Freer and Sackler Galleries
    An exquisitely sculpted ancient bust of a woman from Palmyra, Syria, is returned to view for the first time since 2006 at the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Named "Haliphat," it will be accompanied by images of 18th-century engravings and 19th-century photographs of ancient Palmyra selected from the Freer|Sackler Libraries and Archives. A newly created 3-D scan of the bust will also be released for viewing and download at a later date as part of the Smithsonian X 3D Collection.

    Key Artifacts from ISIS-endangered Palmyra, Syria on view at the Freer and Sackler Galleries
    Funerary Bust from Palmyra, Syria, 231 BC [Credit: Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art 
    and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery]

    Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is one of the most important archaeological sites in the Near East, and one of the best preserved city-states in the world.

    "In the face of current tragic upheavals in Iraq and Syria, every stone, arch and carved relief plays a greater historical and cultural role than it has in the past," said Julian Raby, the Dame Jillian Sackler Director of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art. "Like the relief of Haliphat, each stone can remind a people of its past, and fashion identity both individually and collectively."

    Once lush, wealthy and cosmopolitan, Palmyra ("the city of palms") was an oasis in the desert at the hub of trade between the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, ancient Iran and Southeast Asia. Two millennia ago, its inhabitants constructed monumental colonnades, temples, a theater and elaborate tomb complexes, a significant amount of which survives today.

    Dating from 231 AD, the limestone funerary relief sculpture depicts an elegant, bejeweled figure with both Roman and Aramaic artistic influences, reinforcing Palmyra's status between the Eastern and Western worlds.

    The accompanying photographs were taken 1867-1876 by prolific photographer Fèlix Bonfils and provide the most complete visual record of Palmyra from the 19th century.

    The engraving images are from Robert Woods' 1753 The Ruins of Palmyra, a publication that inspired the popular neoclassical architecture style in Britain and North America. Its image of an "Eagle Decorating an Ancient Roman Temple" was the model for the image on the seal of the United States, and its depictions of Palmyra's coffered ceilings shaped the ceiling of the north entrance of the Freer Gallery of Art.

    The display will be on view indefinitely.

    Source: Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery [June 09, 2015]

  • Travel: Archaeologist calls for first underwater museum in Egypt

    Travel: Archaeologist calls for first underwater museum in Egypt
    Bassem Ibrahim, head of the museum zones department affiliated to the central department of submerged antiquities, has called for the establishment of the first underwater museum in Alexandria.

    Archaeologist calls for first underwater museum in Egypt
    A diver comes eye-to-eye with a sphinx made out of black granite in the harbour
     of Alexandria. The face of the sphinx is believed to represent Cleopatra's father, 
    Ptolemy XII [Credit: ©Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation,
     photo: Jerome Delafosse]

    In a cultural event held by Alexandrina Bibliotheca on Monday, Ibrahim said the project will be a culturally entertaining one that will completely change tourism in Egypt.

    “After the Mediterranean Sea submerged ancient Alexandria as result of an earthquake, excavation works have helped to recover thousands of relics that date back to different historic eras like the pharaonic, Ptolemaic, Romanian and Islamic.”

    “Doubles of these relics are still underwater, which led us to think about the first underwater museum in Egypt. According to our designs, it will be a glass one,” he added.

    Among the obstacles that face the project, Ibrahim included “the wide areas of submerged antiquities underwater, the necessity of having a large number of archaeological divers to carry out periodic maintenance. Also, ships and sailing boats will be banned from navigating above the museum area.”

    Mona Mokhtar, a tour guide who holds a master's degree on maritime museums said, “My master's thesis came down to the fact that 65 percent of tourists in the world look for entertainment, while 10 percent search for culture and 25 percent for other reasons, including treatment.”

    “Constructing the first underwater museum in Egypt will be a mix between entertainment and cultural tourism, as it will offer diving and historic information on the story of Egypt's submerged antiquities and the eras they belong to,” Ibrahim said.

    Source: Egypt Independent [May 26, 2015]