Ara Güler's Aphrodisias photos go on display in Istanbul

PanARMENIAN.Net - An exhibit of pictures by legendary Turkish-Armenian photographer Ara Güler has opened in Istanbul, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Titled “Aphrodisias”, the show focuses on the photographer's shots of the ancient city of Aphrodisias and its surroundings as well as his original darkroom prints.

Known as “the Eye of Istanbul,” Güler accidentally discovered Aphrodisias over 60 years ago in Turkey's western province of Aydın.

Coming back from an assignment covering a new dam in 1958, Güler and his driver lost their way and ended up in a village where locals used the ancient stones and pillars as props in their daily life, according to the 2003 book, “Photojournalist: The Life of Ara Güler.”

Aphrodisias, the site of an ancient city devoted to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2017.

The exhibition at Istanbul's Ara Güler Museum will run through September.

Güler worked for world-renowned magazines such as Time and Life in the U.S., the French weekly Paris Match and Der Stern in Germany and traveled around the world from Pakistan to Kenya and from New Guinea to Borneo.

He died of a heart attack last year at age 90.