Eternal Stone of Troy

GPS coordinates: 39.957045, 26.239976

Archaeological site: 

Eternal Stone of Troy
Eternal Stone of Troy

Description: 

This text is a fragment of a guidebook to Troy "The Secrets of Troy (TAN Travel Guide)".

Just beyond the Pithos Garden, also on the right side of the main sightseeing path, there is a small square. Its main attraction is a monumental stone block, called the Eternal Stone of Troy. It is a symbolic monument brought to Troy in 2002, funded by a private sponsor. It commemorates the most important people from the past who contributed to the development of the ancient Troy and its modern-era excavations. After this point, you will start the walk around the hill where the layers of Troy settlement have been unearthed.

The Eternal Stone of Troy is not a relic from the excavations of Troy, but a symbolic block of granite, weighing 20 tons. It is a gift from a local businessman, Süleyman Bodur, who offered this monument to the Troy Foundation in 2002. He is a member of the Friends of Troy, the association created by the people fascinated with the history and archaeology of this ancient city.

The members of the society support the research of Troy, and in some years their financial contribution reaches 10% of the excavation budget. Çanakkale-Tübingen Troy Foundation was established by professor Manfred Korfmann to support the research and preservation of Troy. The Eternal Stone of Troy has an inscription listing the most important sponsors of the city, starting, quite surprisingly with Xerxes, Alexander the Great, and Octavian Augustus.

The Eternal Stone of Troy was erected to attract the visitor's attention to the fact that Troy was one of the first locations on the border of Europe and Asia where dressed stone masonry of smooth rectangular blocks was employed.

You will see examples of this ancient construction technology during the tour of the site, including the vestibule of Megaron of Troy II/III, the earliest instance of its application. Other cases of using well-hewn stones are visible in the fortifications, residences, and palaces of Troy VI and VII. The excellence of the Trojan architects is confirmed by the fact that these huge, carefully wrought blocks were fitted together without cement and they matched so closely that the interstices between them are hardly visible.