The maintenance and repair of the edict belonging to the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II, which was found by chance in the library of the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, was completed after a month's work by 2 restorers. His edict will be exhibited at the Archaeological Museum. The team working on the classification of the library of the Zeugma Mosaic Museum in Gaziantep found a handwritten document in Arabic during the classification. After examination, it was determined that the written document, which was worn out and some parts of it were destroyed, was a decree belonging to the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II. The edict, which was not in the museum's inventory, was sent to Gaziantep Restoration and Conservation Regional Laboratory for restoration and conservation. In the preliminary examination, an expert team consisting of 2 restorers was assigned to take care of the edict, which was determined to have been written by Sultan Mahmud II to Mustafa Veledi Mehmet and contained information about Ayıntap Castle. The restorers, who worked on the edict for about a month, made it ready for exhibition after a month of work. Restorers, who reduced the deterioration and wear on the edict with certain techniques, cleaned it carefully and repaired it. Gaziantep Museum Director Özgür Çomak stated that the words "The Kethüdalık of Ayıntap Castle was Dedicated to Mustafa Veled-i Mehmet" were written on the edict, and said that the work would be exhibited in a short time. Stating that they identified many works during the classification of the library, Çomak continued his words as follows: “The most important work identified was this edict. During the classification work we carried out in our specialized library in 2020, we identified very important books. We also identified this edict belonging to Mahmud II during the classification. After the detection, we contacted our regional laboratory directorate for restoration work. After the necessary permissions, we delivered the decree. We are currently at the end of the restoration work of the work. It will be delivered soon. After the edict is examined by our historians, we will present it to our public with a temporary exhibition in our Gaziantep Archeology Museum.” Laboratory Manager Ayşe Ebru Çorbacı stated that they carried out a sensitive study for the conservation of the edict and stated that they have completed the conservation work of the edict. Çorbacı stated that when the edict first arrived, they detected contamination, water stains and biological deterioration on the surface, and said, “There were tears and piece losses. We documented all of this. Then we moved on to the conservation stages. We carried out cleaning and disinfection work. We repaired all the tears. We filled in certain gaps. The edict can now be delivered to our museum directorate. "We are in the process of packaging it with appropriate packaging methods, making it ready for the exhibition and delivering it to our museum directorate," he said. Pointing out that the two-person restorer team carried out a very sensitive conservation work for a month, Çorbacı said, "Our paper works are especially delicate and organic works. That's why the restorers worked by paying attention to both the production techniques and the ink. We approach all our works with sensitivity. However, we take extra care because these works are very thin, fragile and are more quickly affected by atmospheric conditions. "We had other restorer friends who supported us during the documentation phase, but the active restoration was done by restorers Baran Yeşilyurt and Sinem Akamca."
Source: NTV News
