Glenn Maffia: Quite obviously the members of Didim Council are intent on acquiring some type of museum in the area around the Temple of Apollo.

You may recall my article which appeared in Voices last April where the Ministry of Culture and Tourism supplied Didim Council with 90,000TL to renovate the old Greek village hospital, standing opposite today’s mosque, into a museum which would display, among other objects, the collection of old muskets.

Protestations to closed ears

I protested at the time that before any restoration commenced there should be an archaeological investigation beneath the building.

Naturally, that fell on deaf ears at that time. All that conjecture was in vain as absolutely nothing transpired of this mooted plan, thankfully.

Now fast forward one year and here we are again with yet another idea to position this long desired museum on the site of a rather large and imposing house which has been left to fall into dereliction since before I first visited here in 1996.

Rules of restoration

I praise the owners of the house, for they have obeyed the stringent guidelines set by the Ministry which in effect prohibits any type of alteration or rebuilding in unsuitable materials in contrast to the ambience of the village geography.

We can see many examples where other, less scrupulous, people have ignored such rulings and have erected monstrous and unsightly constructions. I have seen many new builds upon my many walks around the backstreets. Strangely, no authority has questioned this illegality, let alone prosecuted the recidivists responsible.

It, therefore, came as something of a surprise when I read of this new proposal for a museum dedicated to the ‘Exchange of Populations’ dating from the turmoil following the War of Independence during 1923-24.

There was no mention of undertaking any form of archaeology to ascertain what resides beneath the structure. And that is my core complaint.

The archaeology which rests within

Personally I believe that such a museum documenting that turbulent time in this young country’s history would be invaluable to the education of the younger citizens of Didim and of interest to the more sensitive-minded visitors from abroad.

Though not at the expense of that which I am quite certain lies beneath this area, high on a hill directly in front of the most important oracular temple of ancient Asia Minor.

This prominent position would be the precise place where the affluent elite of Miletus would have located their majestic villas, the Roman Governor General of Asia Minor, and last but definitely not least, the Roman Emperor himself.

We have documented evidence that Caligula and Trajan spent abundantly on the Temple, do you think they would have not built a sumptuous villa for themselves also?

All I am asking is that we take a look before proceeding with this intended scheme.

Who knows, if we open the entire area northeast of the Temple we may well find something akin to the ‘Houses on the Hill’ we find at Ephesus.

Then you can have your desired museum off of the archaeological site.