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Turkey / Museum
Zeugma Mosaic Museum
One of the world's finest collections of Roman mosaics, rescued from the ancient city of Zeugma before it vanished beneath a dam reservoir, now displayed in Gaziantep's award-winning museum.
When the waters of the Euphrates rose behind the Birecik Dam in the early 2000s, archaeologists and conservators raced to save what they could from the ancient city of Zeugma. What they retrieved — and what you now walk through at the Zeugma Mosaic Museum — is one of the most extraordinary collections of Roman domestic art to have survived from antiquity.
The Ancient City
Zeugma was founded in the third century BCE by a successor of Alexander the Great, a crossing point where a bridge of boats connected the eastern and western banks of the Euphrates. Under Roman rule it became a prosperous garrison city and trading post, home to wealthy citizens who decorated their riverside villas with vivid mosaic floors. The flooding of the ancient site, despite salvage efforts, remains a significant loss to archaeology.
The Mosaic Collections
The museum, purpose-built to house the rescued works, displays floors that once lay beneath the feet of Zeugma's Roman residents. Tigers spring from geometric borders. Ocean deities ride chariots drawn by seahorses. Figures from Greek mythology — Poseidon, Aphrodite, the Muses — fill panels in bold reds, blues and golds that still hold remarkable clarity. The finest examples show an intimacy of design and precision of tessellation that speaks to skilled local workshops.
The Gypsy Girl
The museum's centrepiece is a fragmentary mosaic portrait whose identity has been much discussed. What survives shows large, expressive eyes, tousled hair and a slight, knowing expression. Whether she represents a mythological figure or a specific individual remains uncertain, but the directness of her gaze is unmistakable. The mosaic was recovered in pieces and painstakingly reassembled over years of conservation work.
The building itself, with its modern galleries arranged to guide visitors through the collections chronologically, won international recognition for museum design. Natural light, informative captions and the sheer density of well-preserved work make the experience immersive — you are walking through the floors of ancient houses, seeing what Zeugma's residents saw every day.
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- Zeugma Mosaic Museum Museum
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Good to know
Before you book you should know
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Is this trip right for you?
Our groups are capped at eight travellers, which is about a third of what the industry calls a small group. Eight people share one vehicle, one table at dinner and one guide's attention, and the day can change on the road without anybody being left behind. If you are looking for a coach, a fixed script and a microphone, this is not that.
Most days involve real walking, often on ground that was laid two thousand years before walking shoes: marble worn smooth, cobbles, uneven steps and long site paths with little shade. Bring shoes you can spend a morning in.
Some days move between regions and are largely a drive, with stops along the way. Summers are hot — well over 35°C inland — and winters are colder than most people expect, so layers, a hat and sunscreen earn their place in the bag whatever the month.
How demanding a particular trip is, is written on the trip itself: the physical rating in the header, and the day-by-day itinerary above.
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Rooms, and travelling on your own
Trip prices are per person, sharing a twin room. Each traveller picks their own room while booking, so a party can mix the three:
- Twin share — two single beds, shared with someone you are travelling with or with a traveller of the same gender.
- Travelling as a couple — one double room.
- Individual room — a room of your own, for a single supplement on top of the trip price. Availability is limited, and the supplement for a given date is shown next to the option when you book.
Solo travellers are welcome on every departure, and most of our groups have one or two aboard.
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Accommodation
The hotels named in an itinerary are a guideline rather than a guarantee. Where one is full, or has dropped below the standard we booked it for, we substitute a property of a similar standard in the same area — we would rather change the hotel than the trip.
Check-in is usually mid-afternoon. If you arrive early we will ask for the room, but no hotel can promise one before its own check-in time; luggage can normally be left at reception in the meantime. If you want the room from the night before, ask us and we will add the extra night to your booking.
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Passports, visas and insurance
Entry requirements depend on your nationality and change without much notice, so the only reliable source is the official one: the government of the country you are travelling to, and your own foreign ministry's travel advice. Check both before you book a flight.
Many countries ask for a passport valid for at least six months beyond your travel dates, and for blank pages. It is worth looking at yours now rather than at the airport.
We ask every traveller to carry travel insurance covering medical treatment and repatriation, and we would strongly encourage cover for cancellation and for your luggage as well.
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Your departure is guaranteed — the day can change
Once a departure is on the calendar it runs. We do not cancel a trip for want of a minimum number of bookings, so a booked date is one you can plan flights and leave around.
What can move is the shape of a day. Museums and archaeological sites change their hours, roads close, weather turns, a local holiday lands in the middle of the week. Where that happens your guide reorders the day, or swaps a stop for one of the same weight, and tells you why. Changes to a booked itinerary are covered by our Booking Terms & Conditions.
