Istanbul museum reopens Troy exhibition

ISTANBUL, Turkey, May 19 (UPI) -- R elease of the Hollywood motion picture "Troy" has spurred the Istanbul Archaeology Museum to reopen its long closed Troy exhibition.

Museum director Halil Ozek said Wednesday interest stirred by the film in the site of Troy on the Turkish Aegean coast led to the reopening of the hall this week after being closed since 1995 for lack of funds to pay the guards.

He said he expects the exhibition to attract a large number of foreign as well as domestic visitors.

The site of Troy, first discovered by German-American archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in 1870, is south of Istanbul.

It was immortalized by the Greek poet Homer in "The Iliad," on which the film, starring Brad Pitt, is based.

Some of the relics from Troy in the museum are a monumental head of Zeus, king of the gods, a variety of bronze weaponry, and a trove of Trojan jewelry.