This event has long become a cultural tradition for the city, inspiring talented sculptors fr om around the world. The 20th International Stone Sculpture Symposium has officially started in Alanya — an important annual event that brings together masters from different countries. The symposium, first held in 2004, is organized jointly by the Alanya Municipality, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, and the Alanya Tourism Promotion Foundation (ALTAV).
This year, 10 sculptors from six countries — Türkiye, Belarus, Iran, Spain, Moldova, and Greece — are taking part in the project. Among them are Ege Kolcu, Eyüp Öz, Ferhat Özgür Görel, Özgür Turhan, and Tolga Yurtözveri from Türkiye; Kirill Krohliu from Belarus; Hedayat Sakhraei from Iran; Miguel Isla from Spain; Svetlana Melnichenko from Moldova; and Nikolas Maniatakos from Greece. Over the course of a month, they will create works of art by carving their sculptures from marble blocks.
Alanya Mayor Osman Taryk Özçelik emphasized that the symposium is a significant cultural event that helps strengthen the city’s artistic identity. He noted that its main goal is to enrich Alanya’s cultural heritage, introduce residents to contemporary art, and promote the city internationally through modern sculpture.
Deputy Mayor Murat Levent Koçak, together with other municipal representatives, opened the event with the traditional symbolic hammer strike. He announced that the sculptures created during the symposium will be displayed in the most scenic locations across the city. According to him, this is one of the region’s most prestigious cultural events, held continuously for two decades and now considered a source of pride for Alanya.
The symposium will run until November 30 and will conclude with an open exhibition behind the municipality building, wh ere everyone will be able to admire the completed sculptures.
A symposium is a creative gathering of sculptors from around the world who create their works under the open sky. It’s not just an exhibition, but a live artistic process that allows visitors to witness how art is born from stone. Sculptures created during past symposiums now decorate the streets, parks, and promenades of Alanya, turning the city into an open-air museum.