Istanbul museum offers archaeology collection online

By Aise Humeyra Bulovali

ISTANBUL (AA) – Istanbul’s Rezan Has Museum on Thursday opened a selection of its archaeological artifacts collection online for visitors staying at home to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus.

In a statement, the museum said that the digital 3D archive was created by using more than 20,000 shootings to cover over 3,000 artifacts.

The archive also offers art lovers the opportunity to see the artifacts in detail as works were scanned with 16K resolution textures.

Visitors can see the figures that emphasize beliefs or aesthetic tastes from daily items such as bowls and jugs through the online collection, which was prepared in a chronology following from the Neolithic to the Seljuk period.

Among the works in the collection are a unique car model made of terracotta dating back to 3500-2000 B.C. and marble-made statue of Hecate, a goddess in ancient Greek mythology, dating back to the Roman period between 1st century B.C. or 4th century.

The archive can be accessed via all digital devices at "sketchfab.com/rezanhasmuseum".

After first appearing in Wuhan, China last December, the coronavirus has spread to at least 180 countries and regions.

The global death toll from the virus has hit over 47,500 with nearly 942,000 confirmed cases and almost 196,000 recoveries, according to U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

Turkey has confirmed 277 fatalities due to coronavirus in the country so far.