Ancient theater to host art lovers again

The Western (Hellenistic) Theater in the Ancient City of Laodicea, which dates back 2,200 years and was found to have been entered with a ticket system like today's theaters, is preparing to open on Aug. 30 with a capacity of 10,000 people.

The excavation work started in the ancient city, located in Eskihisar neighborhood in the western province of Denizli's Pamukkale district, which is on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Tentative List, continues.

Speaking about the works, the head of the excavations, Professor Celal Şimşek, said that the Western (Hellenistic) Theater had a ticket system and a lodge like today's theaters.

"One of our fields of study is the western Hellenistic Theater. This theater is located on the Asopos Hill, where there are early settlements on the west side of the city in a way that will take the western breeze coming from the west of the city.

In the West and North Theater, we made a project in 2019 with the Denizli Metropolitan Municipality and South Aegean Development Agency (GEKA). In this 24-month project, we continue to work to open this place to the service of people by fully restoring the seats first," he said.
About the seating capacities of the Western and Northern Theaters, Şimşek said, "In this western theater, especially the lower seating steps were made of marble and the upper seating steps were made of travertine. It has a diameter of around 98.5 meters. The theater has a seating capacity of 8,000 people in the ancient period, but today it is enough for 12,000 people. The Northern Theater has a diameter of more than 124 meters and is a larger theater. It is made entirely of marble. We wanted to revive this theater first."

Expressing that they pay great attention to the restoration works...