
I am Şeyma Gecgil, a trainee of Bursa CCC project and I would like to share my feelings about the tile tour route in Bursa with you.
Within the scope of the project titled “Culture, Craft, Citizenship; Fostering social and professional participation through cultural resources.”, we came together with our guests from France to introduce our cultural heritage in Bursa, the art of tile, and for cultural sharing. We started a new week with the excitement of not knowing how we would convey our art, cultural heritage and values, which we had been working on before our guests arrived, to our guests with different languages and cultures.
The first day was a day of introductions and workshops. We understood from the atmosphere created during the program at the Migration Museum where the effects of migration on our country were discussed that we would quickly overcome the barrier of communication despite speaking different languages or coming from different cultures.

After the workshop, we started to tour Bursa with our guests. We followed the place of İznik Tiles, also known as Palace Tiles, in the architecture of Bursa step by step. We examined the mosaic tiles and colored glaze techniques, also known as ‘Cuerda Seca’, and the most striking examples of wall tiles, which we call “kashi”, in the Green Tomb and Mosque.

The next day, we explored the archaeological tile kilns in Bursa where tiles were produced for centuries, the history of tiles at the Iznik Tile Museum, and the Iznik district surrounded by city walls, with people from different cultures, from a different perspective.




In the first days of our project, we visited the examples of Kaşi in architecture and the historical tile ovens with our guests. On the fourth day, we came together with the “evâni”, which are examples of tiles used on the table, for coffee and table presentations on December 5th Turkish Coffee Day. The bonds of affection established with the excuse of coffee brought us beautiful friendships. We ended a beautiful day that we never wanted to end by visiting Bursa’s Hüdavendigar Complex, Muradiye Complex, Zindan Kapı, Tophane and the Hanlar Region, which is its historical bazaar.

On our last day, we were in Istanbul. We said goodbye to our guests at the Rustem Pasa Mosque, decorated with Iznik tiles. This week taught me that it is possible to communicate with art and love, even though our cultures and languages are different. With this project, we looked at the human being, a magnificently beautiful masterpiece that tells about itself with its particles spread all over the world, with love and effort motifs in every language and culture, not only on vases, walls and plates, but also in our hearts, in a week. I would like to thank Bursa Museums and the Artemisia team wholeheartedly for everything.
Prepared by Seyma GECGIL