Zeugma Mosaic Museum

The Largest Mosaic Museum In The World, Opened In 2011 To Hold The Mosaics Rescued From Zeugma Before The Birecik Dam Flooded The City · Gaziantep, Gaziantep

Zeugma was a Hellenistic city on a crossing of the Euphrates, rich on the trade that passed through it, and the floors of its villas were covered in mosaic of a quality that had no business being that far from Rome. In 2000 the rising water behind the Birecik dam began to drown the site, and what followed was a rescue excavation run against a deadline measured in weeks. This museum, opened in 2011, is where that rescue ended up: some seventeen hundred square metres of mosaic, the largest such collection anywhere, displayed in a dark, deliberately theatrical building where the floors are lit from above as if you were standing in the villas. The famous piece is a fragment of a woman's face, known as the Gypsy Girl, shown alone in a black room - and missing pieces of it were returned from an American university in 2018. Gaziantep around it is a serious food city and was badly shaken in 2023.

Mimar Sinan Mahallesi, Hacilar Yolu, Sehitkamil, Gaziantep, Gaziantep, Turkiye

Open daily with a weekly closing day that has traditionally been Monday - confirm. Longer summer hours, last admission well before closing. Gaziantep was in the zone of the February 2023 earthquakes and some city sites, including the castle, were damaged and have been closed or restricted; check what is open across the city before planning a trip around it.

Zeugma Mosaic Museum on Spottos · Explore more places on Spottos