Mosaic museum emerges unscathed from earthquakes in Türkiye

By Dilara Hamit

GAZIANTEP, Türkiye (AA) - Turkiye's Zeugma Mosaic Museum, one of the world's largest mosaic museums and home to the iconic “Gypsy Girl” mosaic, has not seen the slightest damage after the country’s two recent earthquakes.

The historical Roman-era columns still stand strong in the ruins of the ancient city of Zeugma in Gaziantep, one of the 11 provinces hit hardest by the quakes.

On Feb. 6, magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes struck 11 provinces – Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Sanliurfa. More than 13 million people in Türkiye have been affected by the devastating quakes as well as many in northwestern Syria.

Gaziantep Museum Curator Ozgur Comak told Anadolu they are grateful to the Ministry of Tourism and Culture for the well-constructed building.

Comak said the museum was built by the ministry in 2008 and opened in 2011.

"No mosaic, not even a mosaic stone, has been harmed. There is no damage to these stones, which we call tessera. Our mosaic stones did not fall out. Our columns are solid, as are our other constructions. We have a bronze statue of Mars which we display atop a very large column, which is displayed as the highest, solid column," he added.

Its famed ancient mosaics have preserved their unique texture despite the earthquakes, while the museum's favorite exhibits -- the 1.6-meter-tall statue of the Roman god Mars and the Gypsy Girl mosaic -- were unscathed.

"We implemented our disaster emergency action plans. We genuinely thought out what should be done when and how, within the framework of the overall plan, in these disaster emergency action plans created in our museum and ministry, and we took action, thank God, without any complications," said Comak.

The museum has attracted over 2.02 million visitors since its opening in July 2011.

Türkiye is dealing with the aftermath of the devastating Feb. 6 quakes which have claimed at least 45,089 lives in the country’s southern region.