The closing ceremony for the successful realization of the project “Conservation of the Baptistry at Stobi” financed by the US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation was held on 24th of October (Wednesday) at the archaeological site Stobi. Speakers at the ceremony were Mr. Spase Perovski, Director of NI Stobi, his Excellency, the Ambassador of the USA in Macedonia, Mr. Jess Bailey, the Minister of culture Mr. Asaf Ademi and the President of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Zoran Zaev. Photos of the ceremony.
The closing ceremony marked the end of the project for which the NI Stobi applied in December 2015. The project was realized during 2017 and 2018. It included conservation of the mosaic in the Baptistry, conservation and anastylosis of the marble elements from the canopy above the piscine and return of the marble kantharos in its original position. The anastylosis was done according the ideal reconstruction by W. Dinsmore. The project for the conservation of the mosaic was realized according to an annex written by Mishko Tutkovski of an earlier version of the project proposal written by Dragan Vergovski, Mishko Tutkovski and Tome Filov. The project proposal for the restoration of the marble elements was written by Mariana Filova, Dr. Silvana Blazhevska and Dimitar Nikolovski, while the annex of the proposal for return of the kantharos was written by Mariana Filova and Mishko Tutkovski. The project included archaeological excavations under the Baptistry, directed by Dr. Silvana Blazhevska and participation of the archaeologists Dimitar Nikolovski, Milena Reshkova, Rade Atanasov and Ilija Boshkovski. Video 1 and Video 2 from the project.
The following teams realized the project:
2017
Dr. Silvana Blazhevska, written application for the US Ambassador’s Grant in 2015 and project director in 2017
Vladimir Simeonov, field director of the project for conservation of the mosaic
Dragan Vergovski, member of the mosaic conservation team
Jani Antoniev, member of the mosaic conservation team
Djulijano Laucovski Vergovski, member of the mosaic conservation team
Cvetko Jandreovski, member of the mosaic conservation team
Mishko Tutkovski, member of the mosaic conservation team and documentation
Stevan Ilijevikj, field director of the project for restoration of the marble elements
Mariana Filova, member of the marble elements restoration team
Goran Ivanovski, member of the marble elements restoration team
2018
Mishko Tutkovski, director of the whole project in 2018 and field director of the project for conservation of the mosaic in 2018
Tome Filov, member of the mosaic conservation team
Dragan Vergovski, member of the mosaic conservation team
Jani Antoniev, member of the mosaic conservation team
Cvetko Jandreovski, member of the mosaic conservation team
Mariana Filova, field director of the project for restoration of the marble elements
Stevan Ilijevikj, member of the marble elements restoration team
Goran Ivanovski, member of the marble elements restoration team
The restoration of the marble elements and their anastylosis would not have been possible without the invaluable contribution by Stojche Velkovski and Toni Mihajlov.
Related:
AFCP Stobi: Conservation of the Baptistry
AFCP Stobi: Conservation of the marble elements from the Baptistry
AFCP Stobi: Conservation of the mosaic in the Baptistry