Restoration works started in 2019 at the 2,200-year-old ancient theater in the ancient city of Laodicea in Denizli’s Pamukkale district have been completed. Excavation Director Prof. Dr. Celal Şimşek said, “This is the largest project in the history of the world, whose restoration was completed in such a short time. Congratulations to everyone.”
Excavation and restoration work in the ancient city, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List, continues uninterruptedly under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Celal Şimşek. Restoration works started in 2019 at the theater in the city have come to an end. The last stone within the scope of the works, placed by the Head of Excavation prof. Dr. Celal Şimşek. In his statement to reporters, he said that as part of the restoration project, they managed to restore the theater that has a capacity of 15 thousand people.
Stating that although they had difficulties from time to time due to the new type of coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, Prof. Dr. Şimşek gave the following information:
“With the contributions of the South Aegean Development Agency and Denizli Metropolitan Municipality, we completed the works in the theater by preserving the originality by 10 academicians, 1 expert architect, 12 archaeologists, 4 restorers and 20 masters. We managed to do the works that would take many years in the ancient city in 15-16 years. Within 2 years, we restored the ancient theater to its original form. We are happy to realize the project in such a short time. We applied restoration techniques in international criteria. It is the largest project in the history of the world, whose restoration was completed in such a short time. Congratulations to everyone.” (AA)
