Türkiye recovers long-missing Gypsy Girl Mosaic panel

Culture Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced on Tuesday the repatriation of a long-missing panel from the second and third centuries A.D., reuniting the piece with Türkiye's famed Gypsy Girl Mosaic at the Zeugma Mosaic Museum in Gaziantep.

Fragmented History

Speaking at the handover ceremony, Ersoy recalled that the mosaic was broken apart following illegal excavations in the 1960s, with many of its panels smuggled abroad. Twelve pieces were repatriated and reunited with the artwork at the Zeugma Mosaic Museum in 2018, according to the Culture Ministry.

Scientific Verification

Research by Camila Felag of France's Grenoble Alpes University and scientific assessments by Zeugma excavation director Kutalmis Gorkay established that the panel belonged to the same composition, Ersoy noted. "Today, we are pleased to add the 13th panel, dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D., to the museum's collection," he said, describing the work as an important addition to one of the world's largest mosaic museums.

Restoring Memory

Ersoy stated that the recovery demonstrated how combating cultural property trafficking requires coordinated scientific research, legal mechanisms and international cooperation. "As missing pieces return, we are not only completing a mosaic but also restoring a damaged memory, filling gaps in history and reuniting a cultural asset with the heritage to which it belongs," he said. Türkiye has recovered 13,454 cultural artifacts since 2002 under a memorandum of understanding with the US that was signed in 2021 and recently extended for another five years.