Highlights
by Richard Hodges.
A visit to the Bardo Museum in the company of renowned conservator Roberto Nardi.
I have known Roberto since my days in Butrint. At a conference on the ancient city’s majestic baptistery pavement, he advocated the simplest conservation techniques, deploying trained local workmen and local materials. He stood out for his vision and humanity, given many participants wanted high-tech solutions that directly or indirectly would have lined their own pockets. Two years later, we renewed and cemented our friendship at Zeugma where, over four years and confronting Herculean challenges, Roberto conserved the opulent 3rd-century mosaics from this Euphrates shore-town. Now he has been asked to help restore the Roman mosaics in the Bardo Museum in Tunis, and he invited me to join him on this two-day scoping visit. This gave me a chance to grasp something of his extraordinary career.
Medium: Current World Archaeology - issue 81
Date Published: January 1, 2017
Language Published: English