The Directorate of scientific laboratories “Laboratory for Restoration of pottery and Glass” within the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums has finished the restoration of a collection of archaeological founds dating back to different  historical stages: Ancient  Near East period, Classical period, and the Islamic period.

The restoration work included several stages starting from studying the case of each artifact separately then assessing the damage factors , ending with cleaning up , strengthening, gluing, reinforcing, completing and coloring the damaged ones. The 132 artifacts belong to Syrian museums and archaeological sites varying from pottery to glass, such as jars, plates, amulets, dolls, home censors, saddles, carts, flasks and Cosmetic (kohl) containers

It is worth mentioning that the enhancement process is based on reinforcing the fragile and corroded surface layers of the artifact, and the gluing comes to assemble the broken parts according to the condition and type of each piece with top- quality adhesives, in addition to that, the process is aimed at tackling the cracks, fissures and erosions.

Furthermore, the restoration and reinforcement are carried out using precise techniques and appropriate scientific methods that take into account the technical condition of each piece. In case piece needs completion to compensate for lost parts by wax and plaster techniques according to the expertise of the restorer, who determines whether the pieces need to be completed. The fact that the process of completion involves several possibilities, including reinforcement, museum display, or the process of giving the piece an original form without affecting its authenticity.

Finally, the coloring phase that is associated with the completion process comes to give the pieces a color close to the real one with simple differences of distinction between the original part and the added one.

Moreover, restoration work of pieces will continue in the laboratories of Directorate-General of Antiquities & Museums, DGAM, Damascus, Syria,  throughout 2020_2021.