Historical Apollon temple arises from rendering plant

A two-millennium-old temple in Çanakkale’s Ayvacık district has been under restoration for 35 years and the new plan is to open it to visitors. But the restorations will continue for the next century, according to officials 2,000-year-old Apollon Smintheus Temple, which was under a rendering plant in the northwestern province of Çanakkale’s Ayvacık district, has been re-discovered after long-term archaeological efforts.

Professor Coşkun Özgünel, who initiated the excavations in 1980 in the Gülpınar village on behalf of the Culture and Tourism Ministry Cultural Heritage and Museums General Directorate, has spent 35 years of his life dedicated to the Apollon Smintheus Temple. Even though he retired in 2008, Özgünel continued excavations with the goal to revive the southern façade of the temple, which has been looted since the 18th century, using the original tools in hand.

He said when they started the excavations, there was a rendering plant and a dairy firm on the temple, a hovel for laborers next to it and was surrounded by storehouses keeping the olive sacks. One year after the Culture Ministry expropriated this area, in 1982 they started to remove the rendering plant, which had been constructed on the temple, said Özgünel, adding they had seen a great damage in the region. “We found most of the pieces of the temple in Gülpınar and in the Tuzla lowlands and gathered these pieces,” he added.

The professor said when they had come to the area for excavations, there was no sign of the Apollon Smintheus.

“Pieces of columns were massed in a place in the temple’s area. Everywhere was a garden. Water pools were constructed...