Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

HAWARTE

SYRIA

HAWARTE
MITHRAIC WALL PAINTINGS
CONSERVATION PROJECT
SEASONS 2005-2006

Ewa Parandowska

The Polish-Syrian conservation project concerning the wall paintings from the M 'lthraeum
excavated by a Polish Misison in Hawarte (for the most recent digging season in 2003,
cf Gawlikowski 2004) continued conservation and restoration efforts on the hundreds of
fragments of painted plaster recovered from the rubble filling the cult cave.1 The fragments,
which were stored in three separate museum collections in Hama, Afamia and Damascus,
have now been effectively moved to the Archaeological Museum in Hama, where all further
work will be conducted.
The mural fragments, which usually consist of a number of successive layers of painted
plaster, have been the object of separating and classification ever since the beginning of the
excavations. Now, in an effort to study this new material augmenting the murals preserved
on the walls of the Mithraic cave, an iconographic reconstruction project has been established
under the direction of Michal Gawlikowski. It is aimed at preparing a final publication of
the painted decoration found inside the Mithraeum, reconstructing the full iconographic
program of the decoration based on all available sources. This includes photographic records
from the first excavations, made available by the Syrian Antiquities Department, the current
documentation work by the Polish team and the results of ongoing conservation and
restoration efforts.

1 The team, headed by restorer Ewa Parandowska, put in month-long seasons in 2005 (24 April — 24 May) and 2006
(29 April — 31 May). Participating in the work in 2005 were restorers Cristobal Calaforra-Rzepka and Monika
Czerniec, and archaeologists Michal Aniszewski and Dobrochna Zielihska. In 2006, the work was carried out by wall
painting restorers Nada Sarkis (National Museum in Damascus), Najwa Abou Roubijah, Haned Qanas and Eslam
Masry (Archaeological Museum in Hama), Cristobal Calaforra-Rzepka (Polish Center of Mediterranean Archaeology);
Michal Aniszewski and Dobrochna Zielinska, archaeologists. The present report has been prepared with the help of
Iwona Zych.

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