Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Ersoy introduced the “Bergama as a Heritage to the Future” project at the program held at the Asklepion Ruins in Bergama district of Izmir.
Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Ersoy stated that they will ensure that the Ancient City of Bergama takes the place it deserves in the national and international arena and that they foresee a budget of 1 billion liras for this. Minister Ersoy, Bergama, Inheritance to the FutureMinister Ersoy introduced the “Bergama, Heritage to the Future” project in the program held at the Asklepion Ruins in Bergama district of Izmir.
“WE OPENED A NEW AND NATIONAL PAGE IN THE HISTORY OF TURKISH ARCHEOLOGY”
Noting that they have expanded the scope of archaeological excavations by increasing both their budgets and logistics at unprecedented rates, and shortened the time to get results as much as possible, Ersoy said, “We are mobilizing all means to achieve our goal of doing the work equivalent to what has been done in 60 years in Turkish archeology in 4 years, especially our ancient cities.” “Let our cultural assets be brought to light as soon as possible, restored and turned into an added value for our country.” he said.
“WE ARE SPEEDING UP WORK BY STARTING AN INTENSE WORK”
Stating that Bergama is one of the ancient cities in question, Ersoy continued as follows: “Bergama is of great importance for the Hellenistic and Roman Periods, as well as the Eastern Roman and Turkish-Islamic Periods. It is possible to find all the important elements of Ottoman urban architecture together here. Since it already contains layers belonging to the four civilizations in question, this ancient city was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as the ‘Bergama Multi-Layered Cultural Landscape Area’ in 2014. Different foreign scientists have been involved from time to time in the excavations that started in Bergama 146 years ago, and the studies have been carried out by German scientific committees since 1957. As a result of this entire process, 60 percent of Pergamon, including Asklepion, has been excavated. “We are now including this exceptional ancient city in our practice of “spreading the excavations over 12 months” and we are accelerating the work by starting a very comprehensive and intensive work with our “Pergamon as a Heritage to the Future” project.”
