Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

570 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
has been its real soul and characteristic central figure. No
sooner was he entrusted with the management of the archaeological
affairs of his country ( 1 8 8 1 ), than the antiquated and
detrimental laws of excavations, under which a national Ottoman
museum could not prosper, were radically changed and
remodelled. The 1
spacious subterranean vaults of Tshinili
Kiosk were carefully searched and long-forgotten monuments
rediscovered.' 2
System and order began soon to prevail,
where formerly nothing was accessible to science.
as
Small
the annual sum proved to be which was placed at Hamdy
Bey's disposal for meeting the current expenses and for realizing
the many new projects
constantly cherished by his active
mind, the lofty terrace of the old seraglio with its
superb
view on the Golden Horn presented an entirely different
picture at the close of the nineteenth century. Out of the
midst of luxuriant gardens and pleasing alleys adorned with
Greek and Roman statues, bas-reliefs, pillars, and tombstones,
there rise three magnificent fire-proof buildings filled
with rich archaeological
treasures open for public inspection,
while close by the museum we notice the School of Fine
Arts, with its three sections of architecture, sculpture and
painting, created to propagate knowledge and love of art
and archaeologv among vounger generations.
One cannot but admire the courage and determination of
this single man, who, in the face of numerous obstacles thrown
in his way by his own countrymen, by dissatisfied
explorers
1
Compare above. A translation of the present Turkish law on Archaeological
Excavations is given in Appendix D of John P. Peters' " Nippur, or
Explorations and Adventures on the Euphrates," New York, 1897, vol. i,
pp. 303—309. Recently, however, there have again been made certain
changes with regard to the relations between the government and private
landowners.
2
Unfortunately the monument known as " Sennacherib Constantinople
"
was not among these antiquities. Comp. Hilprecht, Sanherib Constantinopel,
in Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie, vol. xiii, pp. 322-325, and p. 211,
above.