Specialists from the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, California) arrived in Ashgabat to carry out the second stage of work on the conservation and restoration of the head of Buddha, dating back to the V century.

Recently, a presentation of the interim results of the work was held at the State Museum of the State Cultural Center of Turkmenistan.

As Suzanne Gensike, head of the antiquities conservation department at the J. Paul Getty Museum, explains, the first stage involved an assessment of the condition of the artifact to determine the best approach to its conservation and restoration, "Turkmenistan: The Golden Age" reports.

There is still a large amount of work ahead.

At this time, experts, namely conservation specialist Fabio Colombo and professor at the University of Padua in Italy, specialist in 3D computer visualization Giuseppe Salami, are conducting research daily in the laboratory of the State Museum.

There are plans to restore the lost parts of the Buddha's head using 3D printing.

Today's task for specialists is to stabilize the fragments of the head for their further connection. Inspection, photo documentation and photogrammetry of the Buddha's head have already been carried out. Some structures have already been recreated using 3D printing. Before the final result, specialists will have several more visits to Turkmenistan. The result will be a display of the Buddha's head in the State Museum of the country.

Let us remind that in January last year, work began in Turkmenistan on the restoration of the head of the Buddha statue, discovered by archaeologists at the excavations of the Gyaur-Kala settlement in Ancient Merv in the 60s of the last century.

A fragment of the sculpture is part of a stupa - a Buddhist architectural and sculptural religious structure.

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• The first stage of the project on the preservation of the ancient sculpture "Buddha's head" has been completed in Turkmenistan