The ancient theatre of Laodicea, built during the Hellenistic period, has been restored for a once-in-a-millennium concert
ADVERTISEMENTThe ancient city of Laodicea's theatre hasn't seen a full crowd in centuries. For the first time in over a thousand years, the 2,200-year-old theatre hosted an audience of 15,000 people for a breath-taking concert.
Laodicea on the Lycus was an ancient city in Asia Minor during the Hellenistic period. Today, its location is near the modern city of Denizli in Turkiye. The Western Theatre of the city, situated on the south side of the Lycus River, is on UNESCO's Tentative List of potential protected sites.
Once a popular theatre through the Greek and Roman era, the arena fell out of use after a spate of earthquakes shook the region. It has been more than 1,700 years since a performance staged at the Laodicea Theatre.
The Presidential Symphony Orchestra of Turkiye performed this week to a sold-out crowd of 15,000 people.
The Orchestra artists performed well-known Turkish and foreign classical music pieces.
The night started with the national anthem and moment of silence for victims of earthquake that devastated Turkiye and Syria in February.
The restoration of the ancient theatre took two years and a team of 10 academics, a specialist architect, 12 archaeologists, four restoration experts and 20 laborers took part in the ambitious project.
Watch the video above to learn more about this story.
