Started by our Foundation in 2004, this project is one of our most tangible achievements whereby we re-assembled the broken and scattered pieces of 105 columns. After complementing the missing parts of the marble pedestrals and the columns we re-erected them to restore their former majestic appearance.
At the end of the first four years of the project a total of 80 broken columns, with pieces dispersed on the ground, were restored by the excavation team under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Haluk Abbasoğlu, our co-founder and member of our Board of Trustees. The donation campaign continued until 2012 and with the new donors’ support the number of restored columns reached 105.
In the antiquity citizens used to make donations for the restoration of the public buildings in proportionate to their income and their names were carved somewhere on the structure accompanied with an epitaph. Inspired by this ageold tradition our Cultural Awareness Foundation fitted a plate at the bottom of each column bearing the name of the associated donor to leave a record for the next generations, reminding the names who made a considerable contribution to the success of the project.
The project, a pioneering initiative to encourage public engagement in archaeological activities, won the appreciation of Europa Nostra, an EU organisation carrying out work for raising public awareness for cultural heritage, as the Project received the Jury’s Special Award in the “Cultural Heritage Awareness” category in 2014.
The columns bearing the names of the Project donors are lined along the Colonnaded Street in antique city in the south-west direction, and around the south bathhouse, the Monumental Gateway (Propylon)and Agora, greeting the local and foreign travellers, students, researches and academics visiting the site.