The Meeting of Mosaic Corpus of Turkey

The research centre for mosaics, which was built in the university of Uludağ , had his traditional 3 rd international congress on 8 th – 10 th June 2006, in the Uludağ University in Bursa. 9 different countries and 6 national universities joined this congress. The director of the museum of Bursa, Öcal Özeren, represented the Ministry of Culture. The sponsor of the congress was the Uluda ğ University .

The first day of the congress was separated for declarations. The declarations were presented in their own categories, in which they where divided. In the first session we introduce the Uluda ğ University and Bursa . In the second session we talked about the establishment of the centre of research for mosaics and the activities in the year 2005. In the last session in the morning we gave declarations about the introduction of mosaics. In the session in the afternoon we talked about the restoration of mosaics. In the last part of the session we informed about the inventory of the mosaics in Turkey , which is one of our aims.

On the 9 th June we visited Iznik, on the 10 th June the basilica in Derecik, a city connected to Büyük Orhan. The basilica first was found in the year 2001, by a denunciation of a villager and so the museum of Bursa made rescue excavations. The basilica then was left, because they could not find an appropriation. But after our visiting the team Lozan, with their president Prof. Dr. Michael Fuchs, required for cooperation, by making an excavation, restoration and conservation. Perhaps our team will start, together with the team from Lozan, o excavation in Derecik in 2007.

On 9 th June 2006 we made a general committee conference in Iznik. After this conference we get the following decisions:

• The centre of research of mosaics elect according to their regulations an inquiry committee. The elected specialists are: Prof. Dr. David Parrish (U.S.A), Prof. Dr. Henri Lavagne ( France ), Prof. Dr. Werner Jobst ( Austria ), Prof. Dr. Michael Fuchs ( Switzerland ), Prof. Dr. J. Pier Darmon (France), Dr. Gürcan Polat (Turkey), Dr. Hande Kökten (Turkey), Dr. Birol Can (Turkey), Dr. Sel çuk Şener (Turkey), Dr. Işık Şahin (Turkey), Emine Tok (Turkey), Dr. Veronika Scheibeleiter (Austria), Dr. Maria Kremer (Portugal), Helene Morlier (France). We decided to publish the declarations, we present in the congress. For the editorial staff Emel Aksoy is in charge. The declarations have to lodge until 30 th august 2006. The University of Uludağ , centre of research of mosaics, as a supplement, will publish the declaration.

• The mosaics of Turkey have to be saved as good as possible and transferred for the following generations. Because of that, the index card has to include information about conservation. The University of Ankara take on to prepare a guide, fixing the condition of the mosaics, which should be added on the index card. The results will published as soon as possible by AIEMA – Turkey.
• The new format of the index cards will be passed on to the excavation president and the institute.
• In this conference we determined circumstances for the membership of AIEMA – Turkey:
  1.for the membership, interested persons had to pay determined dues 2.members will get a member card
  3.one condition for being a member is to have a publication about mosaics and two references of two of our members
  4.there will be some advantages for the members like price reduction
  5.foreign specialist are also accepted as members
• The corpus has to become a institutional identification
• The translation of “Le décor geometrique de la mosaique romaine” is completed and has to be corrected by the committee, before it will be published
• The central administration will constitute the committee, which should organize the inernational mosaic Symposium in the year 2009. In Symposium will be the opportunity to make a presentation about new techniques of mosaic restoration or conservation, new mosaic discoveries and iconography. Declarations about conservation will be organized by the university of Ankara:
  In the committee of the Symposium for the year 2009 are:
  1. Prof.Dr. Mustafa Şahin (Türkiye)
  2. Prof.Dr. Henri Lavagné (Fransa)
  3. Prof.Dr. David Parrish (U.S.A.)
  4. Prof.Dr. Werner Jobst (Avusturya)
  5. Prof.Dr. Michael Fuchs (İsviçre)
  6. Prof.Dr. Ayşa Benaben (Tunus)
  7. Prof.Dr. Jan Pierre Darmon (Fransa)
  8. Prof.Dr.Wictor Daskewski (Almanya)
  9. Doç.Dr. Hande Kökten (Türkiye)
  10. Doç.Dr. Gürcan Polat (Türkiye)
  11. Yrd. Doç. Dr. Hakan Mert (Türkiye)

  Alternative themes were also fixed for the Symposium in the year 2009. For the beginning two subjects were chosen:
  1- The mosaics in Turkey an their connection
  2- The mosaics in Turkey and the mosaics in the Mediterranean sea
  
  In cooperation with AIEMA – Paris it should determined, whose getting the first Invitations to the Symposium in 2009
  

  At least, we decided where the traditional AIEMA – TURKEY congress 2007 should take place, Bodrum or Gaziantep