ARTIFACT DATING BACK TO AD 250 RETURNS TO TURKEY AFTER 140 YEARS

A view from the Sidamara Sarcophagus.(Courtesy of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism)

Sat 02 July 2022:

After 140 years in London, a historical item from A.D. 250 has been returned to Turkey, the Culture and Tourism Ministry announced on Friday.

According to a statement from the ministry, the “head of Eros,” a split-off piece of the Sidamara sarcophagus, has been returned to Turkey. The statement also said that the Roman sarcophagus is on display at the Istanbul Archaeological Museums.

The head of Eros became separated from the rest of the massive funerary monument when the marble sarcophagus, which weighs more than 30 tons and is one of the largest of its kind to have survived from the ancient world, was found 140 years ago in the ancient city of Sidamara, now the village of Ambar in the central province of Karaman.

“As a result of the cooperation of the Culture and Tourism Ministry and the Victoria amp; Albert Museum, London (Vamp;A), the missing piece was brought back to Türkiye on June 10 and has now been reunited with the historical artifact it belongs to,” the ministry said.

Following needed conservation research being jointly conducted by experts from Istanbul Archaeological Museums and the Victoria amp; Albert Museum, the missing part was reattached to the enormous sarcophagus. The missing part was shipped from London with the assistance of Turkey’s Foreign Ministry and national airline Turkish Airlines.

The Sidamara sarcophagus was first discovered in 1882 by British military consul general Charles Wilson in Anatolia, who took the detached head of Eros part and returned to London.

After 140 years, it has been returned to Türkiye and rebuilt in its rightful site thanks to the signing of a renewed cultural collaboration between the Istanbul Archaeological Museums and the Vamp;A.

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