Mosaic pieces to be restored

ISTANBUL

The daily Hürriyet had previously mentioned the mosaics falling from the two mosaic panels, belonging to Turkey’s well-known poet and painter Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu in the Istanbul Drapers’ Bazaar (İMÇ) in Istanbul’s Unkapanı district. Now the mosaics will be restored within the framework of the protocol signed between the İMÇ management and Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University.

İMÇ, the first part of which was completed in 1967 and the second part in 1968, was decorated with the works of famous artists of that period. Eight wall mosaics, made by many famous artists such as Füreya Koral, Kuzgun Acar, Nedim Günsür as well as Eyüboğlu, adorn the walls of İMÇ, the city’s first modern-style shopping center, once the heart of the music world.

In the first block of the bazaar building, Eyüboğlu made the abstract composition mosaic panel, inspired by the traditional figures and Anatolian motifs in 1965. In the same year, he made another mosaic panel in the second block, depicting Istanbul with its birds, fish, minarets, domes and deep blue sea.

However, the mosaics, which turn İMÇ into an open-air museum, have been worn out over time, and the mosaic pieces began to fall one by one. Some restorations were made in certain periods, but they were insufficient for mosaics. Some of the stones have disappeared. The tradesmen of the bazaar began to keep the pieces they could find in case they would be restored one day.

The good news about mosaics came from İMÇ Board chairman Ömer Keçoğlu, stating that a protocol has been signed with Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University for the restoration and that works will start for mosaic panels in a short time.

In addition to the mosaic panels, Koral’s ceramic abstract composition, Eren Eyüboğlu’s figurative mosaic panel, Acar’s birds, Yavuz Görey’s decorative pool fountain, Sadi Diren’s abstract ceramic composition and Ali Teoman Germaner’s wall relief will also be taken under restoration.