Page 60 - Manual for Activities directed at the Underwater Cultural Heritage

 The extraction of the statue from a depth of almost 45 m was further complicated when damage was discovered on the statute: the head was practically separated from the body, and a number of fractures were discovered under the right knee and on the right shoulder, but the statue was successfully extracted without new damage.The statue has been preserved intact, missing only the small finger of its left hand.The entire statue was covered with
a thick layer of incrustation, and was half filled with sand and sea sediment.
Conservation and restoration work was carried out at the Croatian Conservation Institute in Zagreb.The first phase involved desalination, followed by the mechanical removal of the incrustation, a 3-year undertaking, and the consolidation of the fractures and breaks.A support construction was built into the statue to allow it to stand upright. The Croatian Apoxyomenos
is certainly among the most spectacular archaeological finds extracted from the Adriatic Sea. The best-known Apoxyomenos was that made by Lysippos in
the late 4th century BC.The manufacture of statues of athletes is most often associated with victory at the Olympic games, and they were a votive gift to
a god, and an expression of
the pride and glory the winner brought to his city. Besides as a statue, Apoxyomenos has also been depicted on grave stele, reliefs, gemmas and statuettes.The Croatian Apoxyomenos is very similar to the one kept in Vienna, which was found in 1896 and is believed to be an original.
The Convention builds upon international cooperation. It stimulates cooperation at all levels between:
• States Parties,
• their competent authorities,
• their experts,
• professionals,
• divers and other interested parties, and
• international researchers.
Particular fields of cooperation are:
• The Convention itself and its Operational Guidelines,
• The management of sites with multiple verifiable links,
• The management of sites in international waters,
• Exchange of expertise,
• Training,
• Setting up cooperative research agendas and
projects.
Professional and non-governmental organizations inform cooperation at the State level and provide a platform for cooperation at other levels. They include:
• ICOMOS – ICUCH with its global membership and remit to advise on policy matters worldwide;
• ACUA and SHA with its firm basis in historical archaeology of the New World and remit to advise on policy matters worldwide;
• Universities cooperating in international training programs;
• NAS with its remit to inform and raise awareness in the diving community;
• AIMA which concentrates on the Australasian region;
• Groups organizing relevant international ar- chaeological conferences such as IKUWA and ISBSA;
• many other regional and topical organizations.
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General Principles