Gazi Antep, Zeugma Mosaic Museum

Zeugma, “bridge”, was the Greek name of a Hellenistic town on the banks of the Euphrates. When a dam was built in the river, about 30% of the archaeological site was submerged. There were excavations, and the archaeologists found beautiful mosaics, which were brought to the museum of Gazi Antep.

Now, they have a museum of their own, which was opened last week. You can still smell the paint.

The Zeugma Mosaic Museum is splendid. It consists of two wings; the left one is finished, the right one still has to be completed, although we found the door open and were able to admire the collection as well.

A visit to the left wing starts with a little movie in which Zeugma is explained. The voice-over is a bit overenthusiastic and the music is at times bombastic, but it’s nicely done. Unfortunately, there’s similar music in the museum itself; not too loud, but still sufficiently annoying to distract.

You can see the mosaics from two levels: on ground level, you can see them as they must have been experienced by the people of Zeugma themselves, from the first floor, you have a better view. On this floor, you can also see some other mosaics, including a 20 meter wide one from a church near Zeugma.

One of the finest displays is a mosaic of which a part was stolen. In the old museum, there was a large question mark; now, they project a slide of the missing part.

Explanations are Turkish and English, and very interesting. The catalog costs no less than 245 lira, or 110 euro, which was more than I was willing to pay.

19 pictures related to this museum

Zeugma, Tombstone of a man	Zeugma, Wall painting of Penelope and mosaic of Aphrodite	Zeugma, Mosaic of Euphrates (river god)	Zeugma, Family tomb
Zeugma, Mosaic of the Birth of Aphrodite	Zeugma, Portrait of a man	Zeugma, Mosaic of Gaia	Zeugma, Mosaic of Parthenope and Metiochos
Zeugma, Mosaic of Akratos	Zeugma, Mosaic of Europa	Nisibis, Roman mosaic with aquatic animals	Zeugma, Mosaic of Theonoe
Zeugma, Wall painting of Penelope	Zeugma, Mosaic of Eros and Psyche	Zeugma, The so-called "gypsy girl"	Zeugma, Mosaic of Achilles on Skyros
Zeugma, Bronze statue of Ares	Zeugma, Mosaic of Galatea and a satyr	Zeugma, Oceanus Mosaic