vendredi 3 février 2017

book: ‘The Return’ by Hisham Matar






‘The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between’ by Hisham Matar (Penguin Random House, 280 pages, $26)In the 1949 film adaptation of Graham Greene’s “The Third Man,” Orson Welles’ character delivers a famous monologue on complacency and art: “Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed. But they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace. And what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/the-return-by-hisham-matar.aspx?pageID=238&nID=109791&NewsCatID=474

mercredi 1 février 2017

Graves of Mardin’s ancient city to open visitors

A gallery grave, unearthed during archaeological excavations in the ancient city of Dara in the southeastern Turkish province of Mardin eight years ago, will be opened to visitors. 

The gallery grave (a form of megalithic tomb), where hundreds of people were buried together, and where reinvigoration ceremonies took place in the Roman era, was unearthed in the 2009-2010 excavation season in the central Artuklu district.

The “Dara Gallery Cemetery Relief, Restitution and Restoration Project” was then approved by the Diyarbakır Cultural and Natural Heritage Preservation Board, and since then works have been carried out by the Mardin Museum Directorate. 

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/graves-of-mardins-ancient-city-to-open-visitors.aspx?pageID=238&nID=108952&NewsCatID=375

mardi 31 janvier 2017

Woman takes pineapple for walk on Ankara’s metro

Photographs and video of a woman who took a pineapple for a walk on Ankara’s metro on Jan. 30 have gone viral on social media.  

The photos and video showed the woman placing a chain collar on the pineapple as if it were a pet.

As news of the stunt spread on social media, the woman in question, Elif Usta, made a statement via her Instagram account, stating that the incident was a performance show.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/woman-takes-pineapple-for-walk-on-ankaras-metro.aspx?PageID=238&NID=109133&NewsCatID=341 

Inns, mosaics found in Şanlıurfa

ŞANLIURFA – Doğan News Agency

Archaeological surface survey and cleaning works in the ancient site of Kızılkoyun and the outskirts of a historic castle in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa’s Haleplibahçe district have unearthed 133 inns and five mosaics. 

Rock tombs from the Roman and Edessa (Osrhoene) kingdoms have also been unearthed in the inns. 

Works that started in the region last year around Balıklıgöl, the historic castle and the Archaeology and Mosaic Museum, have been carried out by archaeologists and specialists. 

Some 61 inns have been found in Kızılkoyun, while 72 more have been found near the castle. The rock tombs in the inns, which depict various motifs and figures, have now been taken under protection. Among the motifs on the site are tombs featuring humans, flowers and snakes. 

Officials reported that the inns and mosaics would be cleaned and opened to tourism. 

Şanlıurfa Metropolitan Mayor Nihat Çiftçi, who visited the area, said the artifacts would be protected in their original places.