among them the priceless Nereid and Payava monuments. In 1857 Charles Newton was to discover the 4 th century BC Mausoleum of Halicarnassos, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and equally transferred various treasures, among them, friezes from the Mauseleion and statues of King Maussollos and Queen Artemisia, riding a chariot drawn by four horses from the crest of the monument to the British Museum. The dilapidation was continuing through further excavations in other parts of Ottoman territory. Several valuable pieces from the Nineveh Assyrian settlement near Mosul and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos were transferred to Britain. Two more wings were added to the building between 1900 and 1925. Ethnographical fieldwork was carried out in places as diverse as New Guinea, Madagascar, Romania, Guatemala and Indonesia and there were excavations in the Near East, Egypt, and Sudan, adding to the museum’s majesty. Today, the British Museum has grown to become one of the largest museums in the world, covering an area of over 75,000 m 2 of exhibition space, hosting yearly over 6 million tourists. The Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan alone houses over 110,000 objects. The museum is a monument sheltering world’s most outstanding marvels of culture and art. Against the background of intense controversy over the acquisition circumstances of a large portion of its treasures and calls for their restitution to their countries of origin, the British Museum continues to attract world’s attention as a cosmopolitan ‘Temple of Art and Culture’. BRITISH MUSEUM NOTLARI • British Museum’un dünyaca ünlü kütüphanesi, Marks ve Lenin’in de araştırmalarına ev sahipliği yaptı. • 18’inci yüzyıldan bu yana müzedeki tadilat çalışmaları ve yeni bölümlerin eklenmesi hiç bitmedi. Bu durum, İngilizler ’in müzeyi, ‘dünyanın en büyük şantiyesi’ olarak anmasına neden oldu. • Müzenin sahip olduğu eser sayısı 7 milyonu aşsa da alan yetersizliği nedeniyle bunların sadece 50 bin kadarı sergileniyor. • Giriş ücreti alınmayan müzenin kafeteryası ve sosyal alanları özel sektör tarafından işletiliyor. • Müzenin elinde bulundurduğu koleksiyonlarla ilgili olarak İngiltere çok sayıda ülkeyle diplomatik gerginlik yaşadı. Yunanistan Elgin Mermerlerini, Mısır Rosetta Taşı’nı, Çin Mogao Mağarası’ndan çalınarak İngiltere’ye götürülen 24 binden fazla el yazması, resim ve mücevheratı, Nijerya Benin Bronzlarını, Tacikistan Oxus Hazinesi’nden Achaemenid İmparatorluğu’na ait altın ve gümüşlerini geri istiyor. Ancak İngiltere’den kültürel mirasını kurtarabilen sadece Tazmanya oldu. Aborjinler’den kalan bazı fosilleşmiş beden parçaları İngiltere’den ait oldukları topraklara geri döndü. Notes on the British Museum • World-famous British Museum Library hosted Marx and Lenin in the course of their research work. • Addition of new wings and renovation work has been permanent since the 18 th century, inciting the British to refer to their museum as, ‘world’s largest construction site’. • Although in possession of a large collection of objects exceeding the number of 7 million, only 50 thousand of them are put on display due to lack of further exhibition space. • The entrance to the museum is free of charge, its cafeteria and social compartments are operated by private business. • Diplomatic tensions remain on the agenda concerning various collections of the museum; Greece claiming the Elgin Marbles, Egypt the Rosetta Stone, China the 24 thousand manuscripts, jewellery and paintings stolen from the Mogao cave, Nigeria the Benin Bronzes, Tajikistan the Oxus Treasure, a collection of 170 gold and silver items from the Achaemenid Persian period which were found by the Oxus river. Up to this date, only Tasmania’s (region in Australia) claim was brought to a successful conclusion, resulting in the restitution of the fossilized human body parts belonging to the Aborigines to their country of origin. Charles Bowman Robert Harding World
30 İSTANBUL ARKEOLOJİ MÜZELERİ İstanbul Archaeological Museums Fotoğraflar-Photos Semih Büyükkurt Yenikapı kazılarında ortaya çıkartılan gemi batıklarından biri. One of the shipwrecks unearthed at Yenikapı excavations.
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