A Year On From: Talking Heavy

Claire Messenger, International Training Programme Manager

On the 29 & 30 September 2016, colleagues at the Koç University’s Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (RCAC) in Istanbul hosted a two day workshop entitled Talking Heavy: Current Practices in Site Conservation, Documentation and Presentation of Heavy Heritage in the Mediterranean Basin.

The workshop focused on theme-based case studies dealing with conservation, restoration, scientific analysis, documentation and site presentation of archaeological/historical stone buildings, sculptures, wall paintings and mosaics particularly within the ‘site’ context, as well as off-site where challenges continue following the removal of objects.  It explored the experiences of different countries via the participants e.g. conservators, archaeologists, preservation architects, engineers, conservation scientists, heritage consultants, and site managers working in the region, and was an ideal forum to disseminate and discuss the most up-to-date information and practices.

The idea was conceived and developed by Duygu Çamurcuoğlu in the Department of Conservation at the British Museum with Constantinos Vasiliadis (Greece, ITP 2014), Buket Çoşkuner (Turkey, ITP 2013), Şeyda Çetin (Turkey, ITP 2014) and Esra Satıcı (Turkey, ITP 2015).  The ITP was able to support the attendance of conservation colleagues from the British Museum and of ITP alumni from Egypt, Greece and Palestine.

‘Big thanks to the ITP for creating the right platform for us to come together and to generate exciting ideas for the future of the preservation of our cultural heritage’.
Duygu Çamurcuoğlu, British Museum, London