Türkiye has recovered the 13th panel of the famed "Gypsy Girl" mosaic from the United States, marking the latest return of an artifact linked to the ancient Roman city of Zeugma, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said Tuesday.
Speaking at a handover ceremony at the Zeugma Mosaic Museum in Gaziantep, in southeastern Türkiye, Ersoy said the newly returned panel, which dates to the A.D. second or third century, would allow researchers to study the mosaic more comprehensively and evaluate the composition in its original context.
"The addition of this panel to the collection of the Zeugma Mosaic Museum is an important achievement that will enable a more holistic scientific study of the Zeugma mosaics and contribute to reassessing the composition within its original context," Ersoy said.
Zeugma, located on the banks of the Euphrates River, was a major Roman city where trade, art and culture flourished, Ersoy said.
The "Gypsy Girl" mosaic, one of Türkiye’s best-known cultural symbols, was fragmented after illegal excavations in the 1960s, when numerous panels were smuggled out of the country.
