Gypsy girl mosaic pieces to be displayed in native home

By Ahmet Salih Alacaci </p> <p>ANKARA (AA) – Missing pieces of the famed “Gypsy girl mosaic” are to be displayed in a temporary public exhibit in its original home in Turkey’s southeast, officials said on Friday.</p> <p>Arriving in their native Zeugma, Gaziantep last month, the pieces will be opened to temporary public viewing following an opening ceremony on Dec. 8 at the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, a ministry statement said.</p> <p>Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy will be among the attendees of the ceremony.</p> <p>Under a protocol signed in May by the ministry and Bowling Green State University in the U.S., 12 pieces of the Roman-era mosaic were sent back to Turkey from an airport in Chicago, Illinois. </p> <p>After the exhibition, they will be restored to their original place among the larger mosaic, famed for the ancient girl's haunting eyes. </p> <p>Preparations for their permanent home are ongoing, the statement said. </p> <p>The pieces were discovered in the early 1960s during unauthorized excavations in the ancient Roman town of Zeugma, and the parts were smuggled abroad. </p> <p>Years later, the pieces turned up on exhibit at Bowling Green State University, after the university bought the mosaics for $35,000.