Gaziantep: Mosaics, Crafts and Antep Cuisine

Gaziantep brings together mosaics from the Roman and Eastern Roman periods, a castle, underground water architecture, traditional crafts and Antep cuisine. If you are looking for a hotel in Gaziantep, consider which of these highlights you would like to shape your stay: ancient collections, the city’s history, crafts or culinary culture.

Mosaics and the City’s History

The Zeugma Mosaic Museum displays 3,000 square metres of mosaics from the Roman and Eastern Roman periods, as well as 140 square metres of wall paintings. The collection also includes four Roman fountains, 20 columns, four limestone sculptures, a bronze statue of Mars, funerary steles, sarcophagi and architectural fragments. This offers a perspective ranging from large-scale works of art to individual sculptures and building elements. Twelve pieces of the “Gypsy Girl” mosaic were returned to Turkey and are kept at the Gaziantep Mosaic Museum.

Gaziantep Castle represents another chapter in the city’s history. It stands in the city centre on a hill about 25 metres high, on the southern bank of the Alleben Stream. Originally built as a Roman watchtower, it acquired its present form in the 6th century under the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. Here, visitors can trace the long development of a single building, while the Mosaic Museum offers a look at a range of artworks and objects from antiquity.

Water Architecture and Crafts

There is also a distinct architectural perspective beneath the city: Gaziantep’s kastels are partly or entirely underground water-architecture structures and are considered a form of construction found only in Gaziantep within Turkish architecture. The underground Livas canals collected water in Suburcu and then distributed it throughout the city. The kastels showcase a distinctive architectural form, while the Livas canals reveal a specific function of the historic water supply system.

The Gümrük Han is located in the historic city centre. It serves as a “living museum” and as a production and sales centre for traditional crafts at risk of disappearing. The crafts practised there include silverwork, Aba weaving, mosaics, glassblowing, copperworking, Kutnu weaving, shoemaking and mother-of-pearl inlay. Unlike a collection that merely displays crafts, the Han combines these activities with production and sales.

Museums of Remembrance and Cuisine

The Şahinbey Museum of the National Struggle takes visitors through exhibition areas in chronological order, then into caves featuring mechatronic figures and reconstructed scenes of everyday life. The exhibition presents documents relating to the defence of Gaziantep, as well as British and French weapon parts, firearms, swords, daggers and other historical objects. In this visitor journey, documents and historical objects are brought together with recreated scenes of everyday life.

The Emine Göğüş Culinary Museum focuses on ingredients, kitchen utensils, regional dishes and drinks, as well as the cooking, preparation and storage techniques of Antep cuisine. The focus is therefore not only on the finished dish, but also on how food is processed and stored. The museum is housed in Göğüş Konağı, built in 1904 and opened in 2008 after restoration by the Gaziantep Municipality. It is considered the first museum of culinary and food culture established in Turkey. Together with the craft workshops and collections, this subject offers a distinct way to explore Gaziantep’s culture through everyday ingredients, techniques and objects.

Discover more destinations: Tarlabaşı Köyü, Beyreli, Nizip, Araban, İntepe Köyü, Karkamış, Dutlu, Küçükkızılhisar Mahallesi.

For the main travel overview: Gaziantep.