The Conservation of the Roman Mosaics in the Museum of Sousse, Tunisia: Between Doctrines and Practices

Abstract

Our paper deals with the discipline of conservation of Roman mosaics based on the proceedings of the workshop of the Museum of Sousse. Thus, we highlight two main objectives. In the first place, it is a question of revealing the techniques adopted by professionals to handle mosaics. In the second place, we are going to interpret the works initiated to preserve the archaeological heritage in order to protect it in present time and transmit it to future generations. To this end, we paid attention to four Roman mosaics currently exhibited in the Museum and known under the names of: Orpheus Charming the Animals, Gladiator and Bears, Stud farm of Sorothus and Head of Medusa. They show different gaps at the level of their surfaces, and the method used to fill them seems to be interesting to analyze. The study on the conservation passes through two chained phases. We start with a small historical overview. Afterward, the intervention process is analyzed by handling three complementary elements that are: diagnosis of the existing state, the study of the medium processing and the study of the processing of the tesselatum surface which includes the pictorial composition of the mosaic. Furthermore, we have implemented an evaluation matrix with seven operating principles allowing the assessment of the appropriateness of the intervention. These principles are the following: minimal intervention, reversibility, compatibility, visibility, durability, authenticity and enhancement. Various accumulated outcomes are pointing out the techniques used to fill the gaps as well as the level of compliance with the principles of conservation. Accordingly, the conservation of mosaics in Tunisia is a practice that combines various techniques without really arguing about the choice of a particular theory.

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