Representatives from the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, USA) arrived in Turkmenistan on another official visit, the purpose of which is to continue a large-scale project to preserve and restore fragments of the head of a 5th-century CE Buddha statue discovered in Ancient Merv. This was reported by the online newspaper “Golden Age.”
Restoration work has been underway at the State Museum of the State Cultural Center of Turkmenistan for several years. The project, implemented through the U.S. Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), is of great importance for the study of the history of the Silk Road and the preservation of global cultural heritage.
The expert group includes leading international specialists: Professor Suzanne Gänsicke, Head of the Getty Museum’s Department of Antiquities Conservation; restoration specialist Fabio Colombo; and 3D visualisation expert Giuseppe Salemi.
Within the framework of an official visit to Turkmenistan by U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers, a high-ranking delegation visited the State Museum laboratory where restoration work is underway. It included Special Assistant to Sarah Rogers Vanessa Vidal Castellanos, Special Advisor Joseph Gunnar Sidak, and U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Turkmenistan Elizabeth Rood.
Professor Suzanne Gänsicke gave guests a detailed overview of the restoration process.
A fragment of a sculpture found in Ancient Merv in 1960 and dating back to the V century is part of a stupa – a Buddhist architectural and sculptural religious structure erected in a city that was a key hub on the Great Silk Road more than one and a half thousand years ago.
According to researchers, after the destruction of the stupa, Buddhist monks, trying to save the head of the statue from complete destruction, buried it in the ground.
On behalf of the entire international team, Suzanne Gänsicke expressed gratitude to the leadership of Turkmenistan and the United States for their support of the scientific mission and thanked the State Department leadership for their personal interest in the experts’ work.
The American restorers’ current visit will last until June 20.
