Turkey Will Restore One of the Seven Ancient World Wonders

Istanbul, Jan 13 (Prensa Latina) The Mausoleum of Halicarnase, located in the southwestern Turkish city of Bodrum, catalogued as one of the ancient world wonders, will be restored, informed today daily Hurriyet.

The initiative will be carried out by renowned Danish archaeologist

Poul Pedersen and his aide, professor John Lund, who are there on the call of the Foundation Academy of Mediterranean Countries, directed by Ozay Kartal.

As part of the project, this institution, founded in 1993 and working in the zone on the remains of five thousand years ago, started the works to connect the road of the old port with the Mausoleum or tomb of the King Mausolo and dig in the walls of eight meters that surrounded the ancient Halicamaso and a hippodrome 3,500 years old.

Also, the foundation will rehabilitate a Jewish cemetery and a church, organize the International Festival of Culture and Arts dedicated to Herodotus, the first historian of ancient times and resident of that city, the creation of a History Institute and the recollection of remains and foundation of an outdoors museum on Mycenaean civilization.

According to Kartal, the recovery of the archaeologiocal and cultural heritage will be an incentive for citizens and the hundreds of thousands of tourists who arrive annually to the coast of Bodrum, in the Aegean Sea, who return to their countries without seeing the scarce remains that can actually be visited.

He equally announced for next May an International Congress on the history of Bodrum, with the participation of academicians, historians and archaeologists who 'will be a very important step forward to the materialization of the project to restitute the Halicarnasus Mausoleum, he said.