Russia Expects Restorers From Syria To Visit Hermitage, Join Crimea Expedition

Russia Expects Restorers From Syria to Visit Hermitage, Join Crimea Expedition

Experts of the Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM) plan to attend a training session at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and join an expedition to Chersonesus led by the Institute of the Material Culture History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the institute's deputy director said on Monday

ST. PETERSBURG (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd August, 2021) Experts of the Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM) plan to attend a training session at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and join an expedition to Chersonesus led by the Institute of the Material Culture History of the Russian academy of Sciences, the institute's deputy director said on Monday.

"Now, or probably even in September, a visit of the specialists from Syria is planned. Three DGAM specialists will join us in the expedition to Chersonesus, Crimea, where we will teach them our methods of work and our fixation methods. And restorers from the department of museums and antiquities will come to Hermitage, where they will also be taught the methods of restoration works with artifacts," Natalya Solovieva said at a press conference.

The first visit of the Syrian restorers to Russia is planned to be a month long, but the joint works are likely to go beyond that, according to Solovieva.

In spring, the Russian and Syrian archaeologists started exploring early Christian churches in Syria to examine and record the damage from the terrorist occupation and subsequent struggles for liberation.

In 2015, the Islamic State terrorist organization (banned in Russia) seized the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria, archaeological sites of which are included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The city was liberated in March 2017.