CATS OF EPHESUS


  • Photographer
    Lois Lammerhuber
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Company/Studios
    Edition Lammerhuber
  • Date of Photograph
    2012

Ephesos is one of the most important archaeological digs in the world. In this place archaeologists have succeeded like nowhere else to make academia and the public aware of the distant past.Sabine Ladstätter, who leads the Ephesos dig, presents the world of antiquity from a very special angle. Cats are to be found almost anywhere around the ancient city. They live in a very special environment. Ladstätter explains the nature of this extraordinary relationship and followed the cats on a magical mystery tour through an antique world of temples, stones, theatres and private houses.

Story

Ephesus is one of the most important archaeological digs in the world. For 120 years Austrian archaeologists have been at work on this magical site in western Turkey and continue to bring up spectacular finds. In this place archaeologists have succeeded like nowhere else to make academia and the public aware of the distant past. Sabine Ladstätter, who leads the Ephesus dig, presents the world of antiquity from a very special angle. Cats are to be found almost anywhere around the ancient city. They live in a very special environment. Sabine Ladstätter explains the nature of this extraordinary relationship and followed the cats of Ephesus on a magical mystery tour through an antique world of temples, stones, theatres and private houses.

120 years ago the first permission was granted for archaeological excavations in Ephesus. The signature of Emperor Franz Josef I laid the foundation for the most prominent Austrian dig and to this day it has lost none of its significance for science or its fascination for visitors. The pulsating, cosmopolitan metropolis of antiquity may have turned into a site of ruins, but here, more than anywhere else, archaeology has succeeded in bringing past eras into the focus of both science and the public. Today more than 2 million people visit Ephesus every year – indisputable proof of the fascination and interest that earlier cultures can arouse as well as confirmation for the relevance and topicality of archaeological research. The historical distance sharpens our perspective on the present, and grappling with the future is unthinkable without reflecting the past.

Central is the economic role of Ephesus as antique trading town, modern archaeological enterprise and visitor magnet. Excavation means an irreversible intervention in an historically evolved state and must be undertaken with great care and consideration. The revealed object is the real attraction of this act of destruction, but it has to be continuously maintained and protected against environmental damage to preserve it for future generations. Nature, however, is reclaiming the town at a tearing pace and offers a new home to a diverse flora and fauna.

Ephesus is also the most prominent example of the interaction between cultural tourism and regional development. In the early 20th century it was archaeology that reawakened a desolate region that had been abandoned by humans two centuries earlier. With a visitor-friendly presentation of the ruins, archaeology triggered an enormous boom in tourism. Today Ephesus is more vibrant than ever. The antique town is not only tourist attraction but also workplace and home.

Choosing an unconventional approach, the authors have created a completely new image of Ephesus. The statuary ruins only seem to contradict the dynamics of a modern digging enterprise and tourist attraction, in fact they all merge into an inseparable whole. The authors find a very personal angle on Ephesus that evokes all kinds of associations and encourages self-reflection.

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