Mosaic Moments

This week is my final week in Gaziantep. From Aug 24 onwards I have an internship at the archeological site of Pergamon. The modern city of Bergama with its archeological site of Pergamon is 50 km away from Ayvalik. In order to get there, set the mosaic studio up in Ayvalik and be ready for work on Monday early morning, I have to leave Gaziantep on Thursday Aug 20.

It is so absolutely crazy to try and do everything at the same time.  But I really want to work in Pergamon and  so I will try to do the crazy thing to work there and on the mosaic in Ayvalik. Not sure how this will work out.

Here in Nusret’s atelier we have finished almost all figures for the floor. It took 4 weeks of two full time workers and one part timer to set up the workshop, build the frames, collect some of the stone material and produce 5 mosaic designs.

Only one big fish is not finished yet. He seems to be sad and angry to be left behind as the others are already shipped to Ayvalik. But Nusret and Tahir agree to finish it and send him to Ayvalik in early September.

I also would like to get the rocks that we collected at the bank of the dam to be cut into discs at the marble workshop that helped us before. But unfortunately the workshop has a holiday and is not open until Wednesday. I really tremble with fear that we don’t get this done anymore and I make plans for shipping the rocks as they are which seems a bit silly.

On Tuesday we are invited by the Zeugma excavation team to take part in an excursion to see the new mosaics that were found in the past years. This is such a great opportunity! So of course we go, also there is urgent work to finish in the atelier. Nusret, Tahir and I travel together with the team of conservators from the conservation lab. It is absolutely stunning to see these fine extremely well preserved works in situ.

When we are back on Wednesday morning, the marble workshop is open again. Puh! The master agrees to cut the stones in the evening. It is the evening before the Kargo will leave the atelier with all ready mosaics and the tools and material to Ayvalik!

In the last light of this Wednesday we manage to have all Euphrates rocks cut into 1 cm discs and ready to ship. What a run with the time!

On Thursday morning we pack the boards with the mosaics and the stones carefully into bubble wrap and styrofoam and I board the afternoon flight back to Ankara!

It is a run with the time, so no time for tears!

In Ankara my good friend Miriam picks me up from the airport and I crush into her arms.

A special post needs to be written about the collection of lime stones at the banks of the Euphrates.

During all the days in Gaziantep and in Nusret’s atelier we were discussing the material for the background of the mosaic. It should be of a beige or cream color. I wanted to use the marble that we are also using for our kitchen floor in the  Ayvalik house in order to have continuity in color and material. But Nusret really dislikes the structure of the marble and keeps telling me that there is a beautiful lime stone at the bank of the Euphrates river that would be excellent material for the background.

I can not decide for a long time. Partly I feel Nusret is right, the marble crumbles quite a lot. But I have it in the Atelier, waiting to be cut – so easy.
On the other hand it is also very attractive to go out and find stone – and even more to find it at the place where maybe the stone for the original mosaic also has come from!!! So at last, 4 days before I have to leave Gaziantep, I finally take the decision to go and collect THE LIMESTONE.

So we plan a trip to Belkis Dam and also have a BBQ at the Zeugma excavation site. On Saturday Aug 15 we are leaving Gaziantep in the morning  with tools and meat  and Ayse joins us with a beautiful salad made out of green lentils.

And it becomes a memorable day.
We are searching very near the dam. On the sandy road we pass the new Belkis village which was built as compensation for the flooded village where Nusret comes from.
In the rocks at the bank of the river Nusret is feverishly looking for the right stone, climbing along the edge of the water and moving impossibly heavy stones up the steep cliff. I am very much afraid he will loose his balance and fall but he develops an incredible strength and liveliness.

With a pointy hammer he tests if the rocks are suitable for breaking them into small tesserae. It is not that difficult to see if one cuts off a little bit. One can see it by the texture of the stone and how it behaves when it is cut.

We return to the excavation house with about 10 beautiful beige rocks.

After a nice BBQ with some members of the excavation under the straw roofs of the excavation house we come home around midnight  with about 50kg of beige lime stone like in the original mosaic and from the ground where the original tesserae might have come from 2000 years ago!

This week is all glueing stones onto the canvas and let the fishes and other sea creatures come alive!

We also drink arab style coffee and eat freshly made lachmanchun for which the filling is made by Nadide, Nusret’s wife and which is then being baked in the neighborhood bakery. Lachmanchun is a very thin dough topped with a thin layer of minced lamb that is mixed with spices and herbs. This with fresh ayran, the salty drinking yoghurt is the best lunch you can have in extremely hot Gaziantep summers.

This week I have moved from the hotel to Ayse Gultekin’s home. Ayse lives in Gaziantep and offers me the room of her son who is on holiday with his father.
Her spacious flat really reminds me of eastern Germany with the tram rattling by on the street outside and its parquet floor and double french doors.

In the past years the Ministry of Culture of Turkey has opened 12 regional conservation laboratories to take care of conservation of state owned cultural goods in museums and on sites.  Ayse heads the lab in Gaziantep. During her career she lived and worked in Germany so we could speak German together!

Every night we meet in the kitchen. It is extremely interesting to talk to her about her career in restoration and conservation and her current work.

In the mornings I go to work with the tram and enjoy tremendously to leave the house early and come back late, completely ecsausted but often to a warm meal cooked by Ayse. It feels so wonderful to be the one that works 10 hours a day and is coming HOME compared to my past 20 years when I always was the one in the house receiving the family members who where coming home from work and from school.

This week I also get the opportunity to join Ayse on a trip to the new mosaic museum in Antakya /Hatay province.

Ayse not only lets me a room she also lets me use her car so that I also had the opportunity to visit Zeugma archeological site which is about 30 km from Gaziantep and meet with Prof Selcuk Sener one of the most experienced conservators for mosaic in Turkey.