Shattered Glass of Beirut: a Story of Collaboration and Repair

Fascinating online talk and exhibition from the British Museum on the repair of a collection of ancient glass which was destroyed in the August 2020 explosion in Beirut.

I am reviewing these events together as after the talk there was little to say separately about the exhibition except how beautifully the repaired works were shown. The talk had brought together Nadine Panayot, the director of the American University of Beirut Archaeological Museum where the pieces come from and Duygu Çamurcuoğlu, from the British Museum who helped to conserve the pieces on show.

Panayot spoke movingly about starting her new role at the museum just days after the explosion when it lost a case of 74 pieces of glass and how the British Museum had phoned the day after the explosion offering help to rebuild the collection.

Çamurcuoğlu then talked about receiving nine vessels to rebuild, the pieces having been brought together and identified in Beirut. It was interesting to hear the ancient glass had become muddled with the glass from the windows. She told us about decisions they had made to rebuild in a  way that any new pieces which are identified can be added and to leave the repairs showing as a record of the recent history of the pieces.

Reviews of the exhibition

Times

Guardian


 

 

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