As part of the 2024 AA Summer School unit Carpets, this project examined the Nereid Monument — an ancient Lycian tomb now prominently reconstructed and displayed at the British Museum. Through critical analysis and spatial reconstructions, the students exposed how the current display is largely a fictional assembly shaped by 19th-century colonial assumptions and incomplete archaeological evidence. Drawing parallels with fossil reconstruction, the project highlighted the speculative nature of the monument’s presentation, revealing that approximately 80% of its eastern façadeis a modern invention. Using alternative architectural proposals, the project challenged conventional museum narratives and proposed new ways of seeing and situating displaced monuments.

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