Piri Reis’ world map produced on tiles

FETHİYE, Muğla - Doğan News Agency

The exact copy of the world map created by Turkish sailor Piri Reis has been decorated on 20 pieces of tile by two tile artists after three years of work. DHA photo

Tile artists Sibel Uça and Sibel Akıncı, locals of the Aegean province of Muğla’s Fethiye district, have produced a colorful and exact copy of Ottoman sailor Piri Reis’s world map on tile.

Uça, who works as a tile teacher for the Fethiye Municipality Culture Center Ceramic atelier, and retired geology engineer Akıncı worked for three years to finish processing the map on tile.

Ottoman texts on the map have been translated into Turkish. The 90-by-120-centimeter map is the same size as the original one.

The work, which began in 2008 at the Fethiye Municipality Culture Center, was completed using 20 pieces of tile. “We wanted to keep the immortal Piri Reis map alive on valuable Turkish tiles. The map was made in 1513 as a color map. This is why we have made a color map, too. We have worked a lot on it and finished it over three years,” said Akıncı.

Uça said the tile map would be on display at the cultural center for some time before being offered on the market.

“If it is sold, we will start doing a new one,” she said, adding that they had not yet set a price for the map.