Nineveh

Project: Sennacherib’s “palace without rival”
Site: Nineveh
Operational coordination: Giuseppe Proietti

In 2002, on the eve of the Second Gulf War, the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino per il Medio Oriente e l'Asia, together with the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage of Iraq, the Iraq Museum, the Central Restoration Institute in Rome and the Direction General for the Archaeological Heritage of Italy’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, began a campaign for documenting and verifying the state of conservation of the structures of the royal suite (rooms I, IV, V) of Sennacherib's palace, in the ancient Assyrian capital of Nineveh. The purpose was that of assessing the natural damage caused by atmospheric agents and the mechanical damage caused by man.

The on-site survey activities, as well as studies and laboratory activities, were conducted by an interdisciplinary group of the ICR and Centro Scavi that processed new and important data on the characterization of building materials and on the deterioration processes affecting the structures: this information proved fundamental for implementing future conservative and restoration measures.