Mosaic Road tours a chance to embrace Turkey's heritage

Exclusive tours will be designed to promote the Mozaik Yolu (Mosaic Road) project, spanning the cities of Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Hatay and Kahramanmaraş which are home to a wide range of mosaics uncovered during archaeological excavations.

Initiated by the Common Generations Integration (ONE), the tours will take place from April to October and will consist of eight parts. Representatives from various international institutions, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), academics as well as local and international press will be able to participate in tours with contributions from the relevant municipalities. The tour program also includes the introduction of historical and natural beauties from each of these cities. More comprehensive tour programs will be available as tourism agencies join the project under the supervision of prominent historian İlber Ortaylı.

In recent archaeological excavations near the cities of Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa, mosaics were found, shedding light on the many ancient civilizations that have been hosted here since 4,000 B.C. Hidden inside the extravagant homes of rich merchants, members of the military and bureaucrats who lived in these areas throughout history, mosaics offer valuable information about daily life; notably, that of the Hellenistic and Roman eras. The "Mosaic Road" region, which has attracted worldwide attention with these findings, has helped uncover important, previously unknown sites. During the tours, visitors will learn more about the famous Zeugma Mosaics in Urfa, the mosaics of the Ancient City of Germanicia in Kahramanmaraş -- dating back to the fourth-through-sixth centuries A.D., the Antakya mosaics that display 400 years of mosaic traditions in aesthetic and artistic displays and the Edessa Mosaics in Urfa which were greatly influenced by the Hellenistic era. The international launching of the project will take place at the Venice Architecture Biennial in May as well as the Victoria and Albert Museum in the U.K. The Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. will also feature the project next year.