Restoration of the theatre in Perge

Perge, less than twenty kilometers northeast of Antalya is one of the must-see places of Pamphylia. Till now, unfortunately the grand theater that rises alongside the road to the site of Perge remained of limits in spite of the most promising statues that were taken from the theater to the Museum of Archaeology in Antalya.

In spite of the excavations carried out in the 1980s and 1990s, the theater remained off limits as it was dangerous to approach the weak and crumbling walls. It was even very difficult and almost impossible to simply walk around its outer limits because of the luxuriant and dense bushes that grows around it.

The restoration plans sounds very promising as the overall local economy will benefit from it now that the number of visitors to Perge have drastically decreased during the last decennium.

The Perge theater is a typical Roman construction counting 19 tiers of seats in its lower part and 23 tiers in the upper section. Most of the stage is still standing and its restoration would certain help to mentally place the statues from the museum back into their appropriate niches. As is so often the case, the theater has been adapted to host animal and gladiator fights.

Let’s hope that restoration work will start soon for the theater will certainly contribute to the beauty of the site and the wealth Perge knew in its heyday. We should not forget that this is where the bigger than life-size statue of Alexander the Great (now in the museum) once stood in all its glory!