ISTANBUL, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The 13th panel of Türkiye's world-renowned "Gypsy Girl" mosaic, smuggled to the United States in 1965, was officially returned on Tuesday.
During a ceremony marking the return at the Zeugma Mosaic Museum in the southeastern province of Gaziantep, Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said the 13th panel was recovered through international auction monitoring and successful cooperation with U.S. officials.
Twelve other panels of the mosaic were previously repatriated and put on display at the museum, Ersoy said.
Since 2002, Türkiye has successfully secured the repatriation of 13,454 cultural artifacts, the minister added.
Celebrated as the "Mona Lisa of mosaics," the "Gypsy Girl" portrait is believed to depict a Maenad, a female follower of the mythological wine god Dionysus.
