On to the Mosaic Museum!

 

Again, Wow!!  Turns out, that the mosaics had been discovered when a new sewer project was being attempted in the downtown area next to the new Archaeological Museum – and they halted the construction for yet another rescue excavation.  This time, though, we read, they actually constructed an entirely new museum over the mosaics and the streets surrounding the villa(s) in which they were contained!  It is not only an amazing structure, they are really amazing mosaics!

 

Caves in the hills across from the museums

Inside the new mosaic museum






Achilles mother baptizing him by the ankle







Loved the two birds in the nest!

There was the story of Achilles done in mosaics, as well as a huge hunting scene of Amazons (ancient women warriors) hunting wild animals.  Additionally, the streets and some of the columns that were surrounding the villa were left in situ, and re-erected, which made for a fascinating stroll through the area!  Also, as mosaics were discovered in the local Sanliurfa area, they were added to the display, including the Opheus mosaic that had been illegally taken out of Turkiye some years ago, purchased by the Dallas Art Museum, and returned to Turkiye in 2012.  

 



Part of Amazon hunting scene

Overall photo of hunting scene





The Orpheus Mosaic, return from Dallas

The tesserae used for the majority of the mosaics were so incredibly tiny and well done, they were really stunning, and showed such incredible detail on the faces and the birds and animals!  I have to admit that I really do love mosaics!  The detail on a lot of the Achilles mosaics were tiny rose buds beneath the pictures – very unusual, and the use of colors was amazing!

 

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable museum!

 

Once back outside, we faced the dilemma of how to get back to the DoubleTree, as it was getting on for 1:30 pm and we had basically finished our seeing of sights for the day.  Decided to walk along the nearest large street and see if we might be able to snag a cab, as Uber, (which the website says works in Sanliurfa, actually doesn’t!) isn’t available.  So, out to the street and started walking!  We were heading toward the Hilton Garden Inn, where we stayed on our past two visits, figuring that they could certainly call us a cab.  However, R was very quick, and spotted an on-coming cab, signaled, and the lovely driver stopped!

 

Gratefully climbed aboard and were quickly (and I do mean quickly!) whisked upwards to the DoubleTree in just a matter of a minutes.  Sank into comfy chairs in the lounge for a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and sparkling water (not together, fortunately!)  Then, up to our lovely suite for a nice rest, before an early dinner at 5 pm.  As neither of us was particularly hungry, we both got Cesar salads, which were just the thing!  That, along with glasses of Turkish Sauvignon Blanc finished our meal, and we were back in our room about 6:30 pm and getting ready to post about our days’ adventures!

 


Needed a glass of wine!

And a Cesar salad!



So, until tomorrow, our last day in Sanliurfa!

m

xxx

 

 

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