Museology

The unique mosaics in the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, one of the world's largest mosaic museums located in Turkey's southeastern province of Gaziantep, are being cleaned by an expert team with the utmost care and precision to protect them for future generations.

Following the reopening of retail commerce and shopping malls, it is "imperative" that cultural venues such as archaeological sites and museums are also allowed to operate again, providing citizens with a "breath of life," the Association of Greek Archaeologists (SEA) has said in an appeal to the government.

The Greek Culture Ministry said Wednesday it would seek the repatriation from New York of a 2,700-year-old bronze horse statuette which it says was illegally exported from Greece, after a US court rejected an auction house's bid to proceed with the sale of the artifact.

Museums and archaeological ruins, which hosted more than 35 million visitors in 2019, were visited online by 6 million people during a time when museum buildings are closed to visitors as part of measures to mitigate the spread of novel coronavirus, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has said.

Culture Minister Bogdan Gheorghiu conveyed on Monday a message occasioned by the International Museum Day, in which he underscored that the challenges of this period will be overcome together and extends the invitation to visit the museum institutions which will open these days.

As the pandemic broke out, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) urged its members to find alternative ways of marking the day, so the Slovenian section decided to go virtual.

Vienna's museum of city history said May 5 an appeal to submit photos of everyday objects to document the coronavirus pandemic for future generations had so far drawn hundreds of submissions.    

Some 1,800 photos of masks, signs, and other objects have been received since the Vienna Museum launched its appeal on March 25, spokeswoman Konstanze Schaefer said.    

Nearly 86,000 historical artifacts registered in the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums have been maintained and repaired in order to bring them to life and display them in museums.

Culture Minister Lina Mendoni sent a message of condolence to the friends and family of Greek-born film-maker Eleni Cubitt, one of the founding members of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM), who passed away on Friday morning.

Cubitt was born in Thessaloniki and lived in London.

Today, with the spread of the COVID-19 virus all around the world, everyone is minimizing the time they spend with others. However, as human beings, we are entitled and conditioned to communicate fully all the time. Considering that art is a way and medium of communication, we are opening a new path in the arts and culture world with new kinds of communication systems.