2200-year-old Laodicia theatre in Denizli to reopen its curtains end of August 2020
2200-year-old theatre of ancient Laodicia in Denizli to reopen its curtains end of August 2020 – The Western (Hellenistic) Theatre in the ancient city of Laodicia which is on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Tentative List and whose history has been determined to date back 2200 years, is preparing to reopen its curtains on August 30th to take in 10 thousand people. The excavations near the Eskihisar quarter of the Pamukkale District of Denizli
The excavations revealed that the Western (Hellenistic) Theatre as it is called, had a ticketed seating arrangement and a Hall of honor, as in today’s theatres. The Theatre which was uncovered after excavations is scheduled to welcome art lovers on 30 August, following ongoing restoration work at the site.
The theatre is situated on The Hill of Asopos, where there were early settlements on the western side of the city, so as to take in the Western breezes called Imbat which came from the western side of the city. In 2019, a project was started in cooperation with Denizli Metropolitan Municipality and South Aegean Development Agency (GEKA). In this 24-month project, the first stage of the audience’s seating steps will be completely restored and put into service.
The target is to bring one of the theatres of Laodicia, which has an ancient city with the largest stadium in Anatolia, back to life again. The theatre had a seating capacity of around 8 thousand in ancient times whereas today it can easily offer a capacity of 12 thousand people.
Experts plan to fully open the Western (Hellenistic) Theatre by May 2021. But ahead of that, they are struggling to accomplish the restoration work for the first play to be launched next August, after many centuries.
As late as August 2020, it is planned to have the first show with a capacity that can seat at least 10 thousand people. There is no doubt, the theatre is considered to be very important for the promotion of Turkey as well.
