Mosaics - Those Incredible Tiny Pieces

I love mosaics and in the Middle East you can find some of the most incredible mosaics imaginable. A few years ago my son was stationed in Turkey so I spent two weeks visiting. One of the places we toured is a city called Gaziantep. To me the city is out of the way but if you want to see some incredible mosaics you will find them in the Gaziantep museum. This museum holds the world's second largest collection of mosaics from the Roman Empire. At the end of my visit my son gave me a mosaic replica of Gaziantep's most famous mosaic - the Gypsy Girl. It is one of my most treasured possessions.

Jordan also has some amazing mosaics. One of the most well-known can be found in Madaba, a city about 30 minutes outside of Amman. Located in the St. George's Church is a mosaic map of the Holy Land that dates back to the 5th/6th century. It is really hard for one to imagine that the floor of the church is completely covered with tiny hand-cut pieces of stone that are laid out to display such a work of art. Of course the walls of the church are covered with a multitude of mosaics displaying all sorts of religious scenes but nothing compares to this masterpiece.

The day we viewed the mosaics my husband and I decided to go to have drinks at a five-star hotel located near our hotel in Amman. You can only imagine how excited I was to open the door of the ladies room to discover a 6x11 mosaic rug in the powder room!! I hope you enjoy this bathroom art as much as I did.
Powder Room Mosaic