Gaziantep holds the world's richest Roman mosaic collection at Zeugma, rescued before the Birecik dam flooded the ancient city. Beyond it sit restored Ottoman stone konaks, a mother-of-pearl inlay tradition and Armenian-era church architecture in the Bey quarter.
The largest mosaic museum on earth: 1,700 m² of Roman floor panels lifted from Zeugma before the Birecik dam flooded it in 2000. The Gypsy Girl fragment sits alone in a blacked-out room. Open 08:30-19:00 summer, 08:00-17:00 winter, closed Mondays.
Built 1892 as an Armenian Apostolic cathedral, later a prison, then a mosque since 1986. The basilica plan, arcaded stone nave and rose-window openings survive intact under Islamic fittings — the clearest read on Antep's pre-1915 architecture.
Antep's Ottoman merchant quarter: black-and-white keyaltı basalt-and-limestone banding, iron-grilled cumba oriels and hidden courtyards with havuz pools. Several konaks now house cafés and boutique hotels, so interiors are walkable.
A restored 19th-century Antep house museum: selamlık and haremlik rooms set with period furniture, a stone courtyard, and displays on local weaving and dowry crafts. Housed in one of the best-preserved merchant konaks in the old town.
Two small konak museums a short walk apart: one holding Anatolian tin and wooden toys, the other a 1904 stone house documenting Antep's kitchen culture with copper vessels and seasonal menus painted on the walls.
A 1635 vaulted stone coffee house still roasting and serving menengiç kahvesi from wild pistachio kernels. Stone piers, low copper trays and a mixed crowd of craftsmen and students — the oldest continuously working café interior in the city.
The pre-Zeugma collection: Hittite and Neo-Hittite basalt reliefs from Sakçagözü and Yesemek, Islamic-period ceramics and Roman glass. Quieter than the mosaic museum and stronger on the region's Bronze and Iron Age sculpture.
Turkey's newest state opera company, performing at the Şehitkamil Culture Centre with a season of opera, ballet and Turkish-composer works from October to May. Tickets are heavily subsidised and sell out to local subscribers.
Antep's signature craft after copper: shell inlay set into walnut for mirrors, chests and backgammon boards. A handful of masters still cut sedef by hand in workshops around the Elmacı and Bakırcılar lanes, working to order.
Two Ottoman caravanserai courtyards off the bazaar, now filled with kutnu silk-cotton weavers and yemeni shoemakers. The arcaded upper galleries and central courtyards show the original merchant-lodging plan almost unaltered.
A rare underground kastel — a subterranean vaulted water chamber cut into rock for ablution and cooling, fed by the Alleben stream. Nearby the restored Paşa Hamamı runs as a museum with figures set in the sıcaklık and göbektaşı.
The city's contemporary end: rotating student and regional painting shows at the fine arts faculty gallery, plus small independent exhibition spaces in restored konaks around Bey Mahallesi hosting local painters and ceramicists.