What is, where is, and why the Altar of Zeus?!

STONE IS HEAVY IN ITS PLACE-133. LET US NOT FORGET, LET US NOT LET BE FORGOTTEN. 

The Altar of Zeus in Bergama is one of the most magnificent works ever created by the human mind and hand. 

A structure as detailed yet simple, as elegant and attractive as this, is very rare in the history of humanity and art.

Although it was built 2200 years ago, the statue-like reliefs and friezes covering its outer and inner walls push the limits of the heights that human skill and labor can reach.

The images on these friezes also tell us many stories.

Beyond its sublimity in the plastic arts, the Altar of Zeus in Bergama is a work with a narrative and messages.

Covering an area of one dönüm and standing as tall as a four-story apartment building, the structure brought a new style to architecture with its horseshoe or sickle shape.

This highly functional design is used in many fields today.

The divinity depicted in the statue-like images on the outer surface friezes contains a tremendous dynamism.   

The expressions of pain, anger, ambition, and fear on the faces of the statues have influenced many art movements, from Baroque to Gothic, including those of the present day. 

The Altar of Zeus in Bergama is in Anatolia: It was built approximately 2200 years ago on the Pergamon/Bergama Acropolis by the people of Bergama, for the people of Bergama, by Anatolian designers, artists, and craftsmen.

For hundreds of years, it watched the lush Bakırçay Plain beneath its feet and the Aegean Sea, which is not very far away, from the Pergamon/Bergama Acropolis/Hill.

It met the belief needs of the Bergamans of that time.

Because it was built in the name of Zeus, the greatest god of the beliefs of the people of the Aegean region at that time, the god of gods. 

It was the place where offerings were made to the chief god.

Then, with the wear and tear of time, by the hands of Christian fanatics, and by the attacks of vandal raiders, it was destroyed.

A part of it was scattered here and there, some remained under the mound formed where its foundations are located today, and its pieces were used as fortification in the city walls.

And the Altar of Zeus in Bergama fell asleep in the arms of time.

It was awakened from its sleep on the magnificent Bergama/Pergamon Acropolis, located on the banks of the fertile Bakırçay/Caicus Plain, at the end of the 19th century by the officials of Prussian/German Imperialism.

As the bourgeoisie, which grew rapidly rich with the development of capitalism in Europe, looked back, it saw a great cultural void and backwardness, and was looking for a new culture upon which to rise.

In this context, the British plundered the historical artifacts of Greece, and the French those of Egypt.

Anatolia fell to the share of the Germans.

From its alert engineers to its scientists, from its consuls to its Princes/Kings, German Imperialism, which had money and weapons in its hands, robbed Bergama and stripped it bare with its insatiable appetite at the end of the 19th century, through open theft from 1864 to 1878, and through dubious permits obtained under political pressure from 1878 to 1886.

It smuggled/took the magnificent Altar of Zeus, which was a part of the city, piece by piece, along with countless statues and historical artifacts, to Berlin.

As if the brutality of imperialism would be covered up in this way.

Yet they were the product of these lands, of historical Anatolian, Bergama culture.  

In Germany-Berlin, there is an incredible number of our artifacts kept in a large Museum/Prison made of stone, built on a swampy island on a river and currently sinking deeper into this swamp.

The total number of artifacts brought from outside Germany, along with many Anatolian artifacts originating from İzmir, Ayvalık, Samsun, and even İzmit among them, is 9593 as far as has been disclosed.

Who knows what else is there?

1496 of these artifacts, along with the pieces of the Altar of Zeus, were found and obtained solely in Bergama.

Wow, wow, wow...!

A complete robbery of historical artifacts.

The time has come to put a stop to this.

The era is the 21st century.

Humanity is trying to go to Mars. Artificial intelligence is entering every area of life.

Historical artifacts stolen/smuggled/taken from Anatolia, from Bergama, at the end of the 19th century are in Berlin today.

It is unbelievable!

The United Nations, UNESCO, and ICOMOS have clear international decisions regarding the keeping of historical artifacts where they were produced.

Such an injustice cannot be!

THE ALTAR OF ZEUS AND THE BERGAMA STATUES DO NOT BELONG TO COLD AND FOGGY BERLIN, BUT TO BEAUTIFUL BERGAMA. THEY MUST DEFINITELY COME BACK, THEY MUST RETURN HOME!

(Source: http://www.smb-digital.de/eMuseumPlus /// Prof. Ali Sönmez (2020): “Yitik Miras Zeus Sunağı” [Lost Heritage Altar of Zeus]. Istanbul: İdeal Yayıncılık /// Yaşar Yılmaz (2015): “Anadolu’nun Gözyaşları” [Tears of Anatolia], Istanbul: Anadolu Kültürel Girişimcilik Yayınları)