The ancient Roman theatre of Laodicea, located in the Turkish province of Denizli and a candidate for UNESCO World Heritage Site status, has finally been restored to its former glory after 2,200 years, thanks to an ambitious restoration project that began in 2019 and is now in its final stages.
Built in the second century BC and with a capacity for 15,000 spectators, it was used for cultural and artistic events during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, but was abandoned in the fifth century AD with the arrival of Christianity in the region. Over the centuries and after several earthquakes, it ended up in a state of ruin. Located to the west of Laodicea – home to one of the seven churches of Asia mentioned in the Bible – from it you can see the famous travertine terraces of Pamukkale, just a few kilometres away.
The restoration work on the historic theatre has been directed by Professor Celal Şimşek, head of the Department of Archaeology at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pamukkale, who is also in charge of the archaeological excavations in Laodicea, and has received financial support from Denizli City Council and the South Aegean Development Agency.
In statements to the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet, Şimşek emphasised the importance of a restoration that is ‘almost 90% faithful to its original structure, complying with international standards’, thus allowing the theatre’s past to be recovered while maintaining its authenticity: ‘We have been carrying out excavations here for 21 years… The western theatre is important because it was the city’s first theatre of the Hellenistic period. It was built in the 2nd century BC, underwent reconstruction after an earthquake in the 3rd century, and was destroyed again by an earthquake in 368 AD that devastated western Anatolia, and then was rebuilt again.’
‘However, it suffered a severe destruction in an earthquake in the year 494, and was abandoned. In 2019 we launched the restoration project; within 2 years, we restored the tiers of the theatre, which is 96 metres in diameter,’ explained the professor, who emphasised that the inscriptions discovered during the restoration have made it possible to ascertain that the Western Theatre of Laodicea was a public theatre and hosted numerous shows free of charge for the population. ‘Now we have started to restore the upper floors of the vaulted section of the stage and the 16 columns of the first level, which consists of four podiums. The restoration work on the Roman theatre in Laodicea is being carried out with great precision,’ said the archaeologist.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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