A 5th-century BC burial mound near the Persian Royal city Celaenae (today Dinar, Afyonkarahisar province) was looted in 1969, with the best preserved colourfully painted wooden beams removed and smuggled out of Turkey.

Six years ago, parts of the looted painted beams were rediscovered in a museum in Munich (Germany). A project was commenced to return the pieces and rebuild the tomb chamber to preserve it for future generations. Ancient wood painting is a lost art and these examples provide valuable scientific evidence as well as having considerable cultural value to Turkey.

The restored tomb chamber, with its colourful pictures of war, ritual and myth will be exhibited in the Museum Vedat Nedim Tör (the Yap? Kredi Center of Culture) between 17 June and 30 September 2010. This has been made possible due to the financial support of the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany.

More information and photos of the tomb chamber are available from the Istanbul 2010 European City of Culture website. The Cultural Heritage and Museums pages list an impressive array of projects including training young people as master craftsmen, development of training programmes for conservation and restoration projects, cultural mapping and the development of management and operating models for Istanbul’s museums.

This is only part of what is on offer in Istanbul this year – The IIC Congress provides a perfect opportunity to meet with colleagues at the Congress and also partake of the rich cultural offerings in the rest of the city.

The conservation, restitution and reconstruction of the wooden tomb chamber is the subject of one of the papers at the Congress.