The Fourth Turkish International Mosaic Congress was held in the meeting room of the Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce. We were proud to hold this congress in Gaziantep, in other words at the heart of mosaic. We are grateful to the authorities for their efforts in exhibiting the mosaics, instead of locking them up in the museum’s depot.
This congress was arranged in collaboration with the Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce, Gaziantep University and Gaziantep Mosaic Education Center. We thank all those who contributed, especially Çiğdem Atay and Simge Koçak. A representative from the government’s Department of Culture and Tourism attended the congress as an observer. We are also grateful to the government department delegate Rüveyda Terkeşlioğlu.
The main difference between the Gaziantep Congress and previous congresses was that the number of new participants exceeded our expectations. The congress was attended by participants from Turkey as well as from England, Denmark, France, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Italy, Israel, Azerbaijan, the U.S.A and Macedonia. 49 participants who gave papers attended the congress. A total of 39 papers were presented in 9 sessions. Ergun Laflı sent apologies for being unable to attend the congress. Füsun Tülek did not attend the congress without offering an excuse and did not present a paper despite coming to Gaziantep.
Another difference of this congress is that for the first time there was a separate section for modern mosaic artists. Accordingly, artists took part in the congress together with archaeologists and conservators. Thereby with mosaic research and protection, ancient mosaic motifs and traditions have had the chance to be transferred to the present day and to live on.
On the first day of the event we travelled to Nizip after an initial meeting in the Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce. Following a reception at the Chamber of Commerce in Nizip, we moved to the ancient city of Zeugma. After a tour led by the head of the excavations, Associate Professor Dr. Kutalmış Görkay, we visited the Cultural Center and afterwards had lunch, and then we returned to Gaziantep. There, first we were given an introduction to the Gaziantep Mosaic Education Center and a workshop, then we moved onto Gaziantep Archeological Museum. The schedule for the first day was completed with a cocktail reception in the museum following the visit.
The following two days were reserved for presentation of the papers. After the protocol speech, the first topic was mosaic conservation. Topics about mosaic restoration and conservation featured in the first two sessions. During the following two sessions, the topics covered contemporary mosaic applications presented by mosaic artists. The five sessions of the second day were reserved for the archeology of mosaics. Emphasis was placed on the Zeugma mosaics as an important topic. In addition, the newly discovered Halepli Bahçe mosaics were presented in most interesting papers.
The fourth day of the event was reserved for the tour to Hatay. Both the Archeological Museum and the Church of St Peter were visited during the day.
Thereby we successfully completed the Fourth Congress of the Uludağ University Mosaic Research Center. Following a decision of the administrative board, the regular congress will be suspended in 2008 because of the preparations for the 11th Intenational AEIMA Mosaic Congress in 2009. It was decided to hold the usual symposiums bi-annually to prepare better from now on.
The book of the proceedings will be published in 2008. The book of the proceedings of the 2006 Bursa Congress has been published and is offered for sale. You can order copies of the books by contacting the Uludağ University Mosaic Research Center.
