(soft flutey music playing) Voiceover: The rich cultural heritage of
Tunisia extends back thousands of years. Situated on the northern coast of Africa, Tunisia's history and heritage have been
shaped by many of the great civilizations that were centered on
the Mediterranean sea. Its coastline was inhabited long before
the Roman's conquered the region. The Phoenician's had previously
settled in North Africa and established their great
capital city of Carthage. The resulting Punic civilization,
a melding of the indigenous peoples and the Phoenician's
reigned for many centuries. In 146 BC Carthage was destroyed by the
Romans who then laid claim to the lands along the African coast of
the Mediterranean, including
what is now northern Tunisia. From the first to fifth centuries AD, the Roman province of Africa
Proconsularis was a major economic
force in the Roman Empire. Its fertile lands produced
an agricultural bounty. Wheat and olives were exported
throughout the empire bringing
great wealth to the province. Luxurious houses and public
buildings were embellished with
elaborate mosaic paintings. Many of these mosaics are now
housed in the collections of
the National Museums of Tunisia. Centuries after their creation,
they provide us with a window into
the life of Roman North Africa. Mohamed: [foreign language] Voiceover: The tradition of
paved floors in North Africa
predates the Roman conquest. Pavements, made of mortar,
mixed with crushed ceramics and sometimes embellished with pieces of
white stone were common in Punic houses, which also featured private bathrooms
and complex plumbing systems. In Roman Tunisia, mosaic
pavements were a ubiquitous part of the architectural decoration in
both public and private buildings. Their use demonstrated the wealth and
status of the individual and of the state. Elaborate floors made of precisely shaped
pieces of colored marble and stone, inlaid into simple or complex
designs, were the most costly and
prestigious types of pavements, found only in very wealthy homes
or important public buildings. In private houses, the most
elaborately designed floors, usually with figurative scenes,
adorned rooms used for entertaining, where they would be certain to impress. Mosaic pavements depicting food and
drink were often found in the triclinium, or dining room, a virtual menu
spread out at the feet of the guests. Simpler geometric or floral designs were
used as borders for figurative mosaics and in less important ones. Jerry: The images on many mosaics
actually play with the idea of their position related to the
architecture, so a floor may have
things spread out on the floor. For example, in this mosaic a
basket has tilted over and the fish
are spilling out onto the floor. Of course the problem is
once the mosaic is lifted and
hung on the wall of a museum, the fish either fly up into the
air or swim across the wall. So, the image itself has changed,
the intent of the image has changed. Lifting mosaics from archaeological
sites, that is removing them
from their original context, the original place that they
were installed and manufactured has been going on for a very, very
long time and it's had good effects and its had disastrous
effects at the same time. The good part of lifting
is that, in many cases, these pieces of art that were removed
from their original context survive today only because they were lifted
and brought into the protective
environment of a museum. However, they lost their context,
they lost the place they belong to. They're no longer a part of a building,
they're no longer a floor of a building. They're now more like works of art
on the wall of the museum itself, framed like a painting, but
have lost all of that aspect
of being part of a building. Voiceover: In the same way that
a mosaic hung on a museum wall
no longer tells a complete story, an archaeological site from
which the mosaics have been
lifted is also incomplete. The unique relationship between the
mosaics and the architecture is lost. Figurative mosaics, with their rich
visual narratives were especially valued and were frequent removed
and taken to museums or put
in storage for safe keeping. What is generally left at
archaeological sites in Tunisia today
are geometric or floral mosaics. Thomas: In more recent decades
there's been a change of approach
favoring in situ conservation, which means it's simply conserving
mosaics in their architectural
context within the site itself. Leaving the mosaics at archaeological
sites poses conservation challenges different from that of
mosaics in a museum. The most critical problem is that mosaics
are exposed to the outdoor environment as they were never intended to be and
are at risk of being lost completely. Aicha: The process of decay of
the mosaics is going very fast, so our idea at that time was
to create a profile of people who can face this problem very quickly
and work in situ on the mosaics. So, we looked through these young
people who are working at INP,
Institut National du Patrimoine, and we give them the opportunity of being
trained in the process of maintenance, to document the mosaics,
and then to do some works,
stabilization of these mosaics. Voiceover: In 1998 the Institut
National du Patrimoine of Tunisia joined with the Getty Conservation
Institute to create a program
to save the nation's mosaics at archaeological sites
from further deterioration. A hands-on training project
is helping to create groups
of regional mosaic technicians who can address the basic maintenance and
stabilization needs of in situ mosaics. Thomas: The training that we've been
carrying out here in Tunisia since 1998 has already had quite an
impact on several sites. Mosaics that were completely
invisible because they were
covered with microorganisms, such as lichens, algae and
moss, are now visible again. Cleaning is only the first
step in carrying out urgently
needed stabilization treatments before additional loss of
mosaic material occurs. Voiceover: Before learning
maintenance treatment techniques, trainees learn how to document a
mosaic, both its current condition and its previous treatments, creating
a graphic and photographic record that enables them to better
plan and prepare their work. All maintenance activities,
from removal of vegetation to resetting of loose tesserae
are carefully documented. Even an unanticipated rain storm
during the training campaign can provide an opportunity
to monitor conditions. Livia: [foreign language] Thomas: Maintenance is really the most
important part of conserving mosaics. Without a roof or the layers of soil
that have accumulated over the centuries to protect them from the
environment, excavated mosaics
will rapidly deteriorate. The only hope for their long-term survival
in the open is frequent inspections and minor operations of stabilization
and removal of weeds and dirt as needed. Voiceover: Trainees receive
instruction in a range of repair
and stabilization techniques, using lime-based mortars similar
to those used during the Roman era. In the recent past, many mosaics
were repaired with cement. Cement repairs, besides
being very noticeable, can accelerate deterioration
because cement is not compatible
with the original mosaic materials and is very difficult to remove
without damaging the mosaic. Livia: A very important part of this
work is to find the right mortar
to use for the different purpose. We try to prepare a mixture
that has the right color and the right hardness for
each situation we find. Thomas: In carrying out our
mortar repairs on mosaics, we do pay attention to the
aesthetic aspect of the work by using gravels similar in color to the
stone and tesserae found in the mosaic and in the mortars used for filling areas
of loss, the work becomes less evident and you see the mosaic rather
than the repair material. Voiceover: Trainees also receive
instruction on how to re-bury mosaics. This can protect them from environmental
conditions and human activity. The relatively stable environment
of unexcavated mosaics has helped preserve
them for many centuries. Another simple, but effective
way to protect mosaics is to keep
the public from walking on them. Aricha: After 10 years of training
of collaboration between the INP, Institut National du Patrimoine of Tunisia
and the Getty Institute of Conservation, we have twenty people on the field
working on the sites using the
material and the funds from the INP. We are proud of this and I think
it's very important that we did this. (upbeat music playing)
