World's biggest puzzle being made in ancient house in Turkey

Istanbul, May 13 (ANI): The marble hall of the palace-like house in which the Roman consul lived in the city of Efes in Turkey in 275 A.D. has begun to be restored, putting back together 350-square-meter walls that are now broken into 120,000 pieces, in what is probably the world's biggest puzzle.

According to a report in Today's Zaman, the deputy supervisor of the ongoing excavations in Efes, Sabine Ladstatter, said this method was used in Italy once before, but with such a large-scale assembly will be the first in history.

Excavations have been ongoing in this city, which is one of the biggest ancient cities of the Mediterranean, for 138 years.

The hillside houses where the richest people lived are seen as the most exciting sites for excavation and restoration.

Considered to be the most important of the hillside houses, the palatial house of Gaius Flavius Furius Aptus, the city consul, is drawing attention as a focus of excavation and restoration projects.

Its magnificent 178-square-meter salon, whose walls were clothed with marble, is witnessing a major restoration.

The plan is to begin with the restoration of the salon's walls. The walls had sunk deep into the soil over time due to numerous earthquakes.

The pieces of the walls have been found through the extensive excavations, which have been going on for years.

Presently, there are about 120,000 pieces that are going to be used for the restoration, funded by Borusan Holding.

Ladstatter said they believe those pieces constitute 90 percent of the walls.

She added that they are going to use laser screening to find the proper piece to put into the proper place in the wall.

"What we are going to do here now is an effort to complete a puzzle composed of 120,000 pieces," said Ladstatter.

The restoration is expected to cost 300,000 dollars. (ANI)