Zeugma Mosaic Museum, one of the largest mosaic museums in the world, hosted 381 thousand 500 visitors in 10 months and saw the peak in the number of visitors before the end of the year.
The Zeugma Mosaic Museum, located on the historical Silk Road in Gaziantep and established on an area of 30 thousand square meters, exhibits hundreds of works such as the “Gypsy Girl” mosaic, “Mars statue”, Roman fountains, baths and mosaics found in villas by the Euphrates River.
The museum, which has the “Presidential Culture and Art Grand Prize”, where 12 pieces of the “Gypsy Girl” mosaic brought to Turkey from the USA in 2018 are exhibited, broke the visitor record by hosting 340 thousand 569 people in 2019, which was declared the “Year of Göbeklitepe”.
Zeugma Mosaic Museum, which is one of the most visited places by local and foreign visitors to the region, is 71 thousand 323 in 2011, 169 thousand 38 in 2012, 179 thousand 297 in 2013, 206 thousand 684 in 2014, 178 thousand 995 in 2015. 108 thousand 835 people in 2016, 169 thousand 773 in 2017, 267 thousand 552 in 2018, 340 thousand 569 in 2019, 87 thousand 642 in 2020, 242 thousand 145 in 2021, a total of 2 million 21 thousand. It had attracted 853 visitors.
Reaching 381,500 visitors in the first 10 months of this year, the museum has reached the highest number of visitors of all time since its establishment in 2011, before the end of the year.
“WE HAVE ENDURED 2,5 MILLION NUMBERS”
Gaziantep Museum Director Özgür Çomak said that they have experienced an active period since April.
Stating that the museum attracts more and more attention as the years go by, Çomak said:
“In 2022, before the end of the year, we surpassed the figures of 2019. As the museum, we broke the record of all time. We hosted around 381 thousand 500 visitors, we will reach 400 thousand before the end of the year. Our museum hosted approximately 2 million 410 thousand visitors from 2011 when it was opened to November of this year. “We have based on the figures of 2.5 million. These are very important numbers for us. We hope that we will exceed these figures and exceed 500 thousand visitors in 2023. GAP tours are increasing day by day. This reflects positively on us. Zeugma Mosaic Museum is the first place visited by locals and foreigners who come here.” is happening.”
THE MUSEUM IS OPEN AT NIGHT INCREASED THE NUMBER OF VISITORS
Reminding that the museum serves until 22:00 in hot months with a special permission from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Çomak said, “Our museum remained open from 08:00 to 22:00 for approximately 2.5 months. “We saw him visit us. We received a lot of demand. Hopefully, we plan to do this next year in line with the permission of the Ministry,” he said.
Pointing out that the interest of foreign visitors is increasing, Çomak said, “We received heavy visitors from Europe, the Far East and Scandinavian countries. Intensive visitors came from Japan, China and Taiwan from the Far East, and Germany and Italy from Europe.”
“WE HAVE AMAZING WORKS”
Kübra Cuci Karakaş, one of the visitors, said that she came from Istanbul with her friends to tour the Southeast.
Expressing that they started their tour by visiting the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, Karakaş said:
“I heard the name of this place a lot and I definitely wanted to visit it. I was especially curious about the Gypsy Girl mosaic. There are wonderful works. When I return to Istanbul, I will recommend it to anyone who is interested in it. The works were beautifully unearthed, preserved and exhibited. It is truly an honor and a proud moment museum.”
