In Dodoni, the largest restoration project of an ancient theater in Greece
Archaeologists, architects, civil engineers, conservators and craftsmen have completed the largest project to restore an ancient theater.
On June 21, the Boston Youth Philharmonic Orchestra will celebrate at ancient theater of Dodonis the World music Day. In the sanctuary of the people of Epirus and all the Greeks, where the priests lay on the ground of the oracle to hear the messages sent by Zeus with the voice of Nature, Dodoni, as foreign tourists call the ancient theater, will celebrate together . with the exquisite music of the Philharmonic completing the restoration work at the bottom.
Sixty-two years after the start of the first performance, 22 years after the start of the works in the largest surviving theater of antiquity (18,000 seats) and 12 years after the start of work in the lower zone of the theater with a total of nine stands of 2,000 seats, Archaeologists, architects, civil engineers, conservators and craftsmen won the bet with the fragmentation, the situation and the bad weather conditions and carried out the largest “occupational therapies of life and the emergence of ancient theater” in Greece, renewing for the next centuries the ” . »In the valley of Tomaro.
According to data provided to APE-MPE by the archaeologist of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Ioannina Hara Kappa, were led to the adjacent construction site, through a special crane bridge, which has been set up in the area. One by one (in a process that takes 28 days for each seat, about one year each stand) they were cleaned, filled with material of the worn points, glued and repositioned in their place, after the discovery up to the rocky background as well as its shaping. . point “.
“In this way, and based on photographic documentation and study,” noted archaeologist Eleni Moussiadis, who last week guided Greek and foreign journalists to the archeological site, “the mistakes in the original placement made in the 1960s were also corrected. when the molding plates and here from the upper zone were placed lower in other places “.
The project of the restoration of the first phase, included in the Operational Program “Epirus 2014-2020”, with a budget of 5 million Euros, faced with an innovative methodology the most important problem of the Dodoni theater, which concerned the ancient building material. Where necessary, new mortar was also placed here, but with the same building material of antiquity, which comes from the present quarry of Klimatia Zitsa that operated on the same limestone vein, in which the quarries of the 3rd century operated.
As stressed in the APE-MPE if. head of EFA Ioannina Varvara Papadopoulou, “the restoration of the emblematic theater of Dodoni, which is considered the crown jewel of the work of the archaeological site in an innovative process, the essence of many years and specialized studies.” The operations are performed with the most modern methods and for this reason, experts point out that the play in the theater of Dodoni can become a pilot for the restoration of other ancient theaters in Epirus and more.
At the end of June, however, the crane bridge mechanism will be moved to the middle flange, from where the second phase of restoration in the second zone will begin. Already, as Mrs. Kappa mentioned, the studies have been approved by the KAS and the movement of seats from the middle stands has begun.
As it became known by the Ministry of Culture, the event for the completion of the restoration of the lower zone of the cavity and its return to the public, next Tuesday, will be attended by the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni.
Five ancient theaters one Epirus, i-thea, restoration and tourism development
The ancient theater of Dodoni, built (in the 3rd century) by the king of Epirus Pyrros and its famous oracle is one of the five “Theaters of Epirus” of the Cultural Route that coordinates the Development “Epirus SA” and is aimed at cultural tourism.
The presentation of the Cultural Route in fam trip (saving trip) of Greek and foreign journalists, was created by Development Epirus SA, in the framework of the project “Integrated Approaches for Cultural Heritage Promotion: Ancient Theaters & Sites Route as Branded Destination” (“Complete »Approaches to the Promotion of Cultural Heritage: The Route of Ancient Theaters and Sites as a Brand Destination») with the acronym i-Thea (INTERREG Greece-Albania 2014-2020).
The tours were, among other things, a first-class opportunity to capture the restoration – maintenance and landscaping works carried out by the Ministry of Culture in recent years with national and European resources in the ancient theaters of Dodoni, Gitan, Amvrakia, Kassopi, Nikopolis and the archeological countries. With the exception of Nikopolis (built in the 1st century BC), the ancient theaters were built during the heyday of the Epirote public (3rd century), three of them by King Pyrrhus. The history is 2500 years and is connected to the cultural route, with a total length of 344 km, which runs through the 4 Regional Units of Epirus (Ioannina, Thesprotia, Arta, Preveza) aspiring to provide the driving force for tourism and regional development.
Ancient Gitan Theater, Thesprotia
In the ancient theater of the Greeks (built in the middle of the 3rd century, 4000 seats) the restoration and renovation works in the lower stands have been completed in two phases, but continue in the rest as well as in the ancient city of the Greeks on the hill above the theater. “A large number of chairs”, as stated by the archaeologist of EFA Thespia, Vasiliki Lambrotou, “has been gathered in a storage area to be developed in a new phase of restoration”. Many of the theaters here have engraved inscriptions on their sides, with people’s names. Road access to the theater and the archeological site requires improvements, however the Gitan theater can and does now host performances and events.
The most important of the protection works that have been done in front of the ancient theater and at a distance of a few tens of meters from the orchestra is the construction of a “green embankment”, which prevents the risk of flooding the theater from the waters of the river Kalamas. The theater is estimated to have been the first building of the Gitans that the citizens approached when they arrived in the city with their ships as Kalamas in antiquity was navigable.
Ancient Theaters of Amvrakia, Arta
Inside the city of Arta is the third station of the Cultural Route. Pyrrhus, historians say, built (3rd century BC) in Amvrakia two theaters: a large one that is almost buried under the buildings of modern Arta (in 1981 part of the orchestra, the cavity and the stage was located) and a small theater . (150 sites), in which excavations and excavation works are currently underway. The small theater of Arta was discovered in 1976 and was the second theater, after that of Larissa, in a city, while it is considered the smallest of the ancient theaters that have been identified to date in Greece. Archaeologists, however, have suggested that this is a boulevard, where meetings or discussions on administrative and religious issues took place, and may even host some performances. Excavations have shown, however, that it was not built on a natural hill like the other theaters, but on the foundations and mosaic floors of the bath as well as on the foundations of houses of the classical and archaic city.
Ancient Theater of Kassopi, Preveza
The great ancient theater of Kassopi (3rd century, 5000-6000 spectators) is the least known of the ancient theaters of Epirus. It is built at an altitude of 550m., Below the northwestern acropolis of ancient Kassopi in a hidden, strategic location of Zalongos. The impressive even today ancient city with the stunning view of the peninsula of Preveza, the Ionian and the Amvrakikos, built with the Hippodameian system, had a rectory, descent, walls, altars of gods and a second smaller theater known as the Conservatory. It was carved on a natural rock, which circulated for music and other events and is visible to today’s visitors.
The works of the first phase for the restoration and promotion of the lower part of the big theater have been completed, although the waters of recent rains … have eroded the arrangement of the central seats. The actions concerned works, restoration and protection of the monument as well as infrastructure works and landscaping. Recently, on the slope of the mountain, above the theater, rock protection works were carried out.
Ancient Theater of Nikopolis, Preveza
This summer is not the last with scaffolding and volumes of building materials for the ancient theater of Nikopolis. As the archaeologist of EFA Preveza Vangelis Pavlidis made known to the journalists who participated in the fam trip for the five theaters of Epirus, the “ancient theater of Nikopolis that he visited at the end of the year”. Thus, the largest surviving ancient city in Greece, founded by the Roman emperor Octavian Augustus in 31 BC in honor of his victory over Antonius and Cleopatra in the naval battle of Aktio, may once again show off its impressive monuments, its impressive . theater.
The first interventions to save the theater took place in 1960. In the last decade, work on its protection, maintenance, restoration and promotion has accelerated. By the end of the first phase of the project, in 2015, exploratory sections had been made that revealed its entire area and volumes of materials, dangerous for collapse, were removed. During the works, the receptacles of the beams that held the shading velum (tenta) for its 5000 spectators were revealed.
The second phase of the play started in 2017 and its interior was completely revealed, while three rows of seats were found at an embankment that escaped the looting of the materials, when three lime kilns were operating inside the theater and were supplying materials – during the Ottoman Empire – with materials. construction of the castles of Preveza. The whole restoration – promotion project, included in the Operational Program “Epirus 2014-2020” had a budget of 3.4 million euros and the main objective of the operation was to “increase the impact of natural cultural heritage on the regional economy”.