13th panel of the ‘Gypsy Girl’ mosaic returned to Türkiye
GAZİANTEP
The 13th panel of the internationally renowned “Gypsy Girl” mosaic has been returned to Türkiye from the United States and formally handed over to the Zeugma Mosaic Museum in the southeastern province of Gaziantep, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced on July 14.
Speaking at the handover ceremony held at the museum, Ersoy said the return marked another important milestone in Türkiye’s efforts to recover cultural artifacts that were illegally taken abroad.
He described Zeugma, located on the banks of the Euphrates River, as one of the Roman world’s most important cities where trade, art and culture flourished at the crossroads of East and West.The “Gypsy Girl” mosaic, discovered at the ancient city of Zeugma, has become one of the country’s best-known cultural symbols. However, many sections of the floor mosaic were smuggled out of Türkiye following illegal excavations carried out in the 1960s.
