Proposal for the Restoration of the Skene of the First Ancient Theatre of Larissa, Greece

Abstract

The unearthing and restoration of the First Ancient Theatre of Larissa, Greece, built in the early 3rd c. BC, has been a painful and demanding process spanning almost half a century. Being one of the largest and most important theatres in Greece, its Skene is one of the best preserved, although it had been buried under blocks of flats for decades. Conservation and utility reasons prompted the currently presented proposal for the restoration of the Skene, which involves the addition of new limestone blocks to the four rooms consisting the scene-building, as well as restoring part of the proskenion, the colonnade in the front of the skene. The first was accomplished through a methodology of documenting the monument in situ, identifying ancient blocks to their original position and creating a parametric approach to decide on dimensions and position of each specific new block, validated by the monument’s construction techniques (clamps, holes etc.). The proskenion will be restored by reassembling identified ancient marble column fragments using the necessary additions of new marble and titanium reinforcements.