THE DISCOVERY AND ENHANCEMENT OF THE GREAT THEATRE OF NICOPOLIS. MANY EXPECTATIONS, MORE DIFFICULTIES, MANY REWARDS.
The Great Theatre of Nicopolis stands among the monuments of the suburb of Nicopolis, the city founded by Octavian after his magnificent victory at the Battle of Actium. Despite the fact that the monument has stood visible for centuries, it was excavated and studied in the last decade.
The Association DIAZOMA generously offered to the Ministry of Culture the studies, based on which the excavation, restoration and maintenance of the monument was included in the “Cultural route to the ancient theatres of Epirus” of the NSRF 2014-2020. The large excavation program implemented by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Preveza fully revealed the interior of the monument, and the important archaeological data obtained from the research were used for the preparation of studies for its maintenance and restoration. Although several parts of the theatre still stand at an impressive height, much of the building material is missing, having been slowly but surely removed after the monument was abandoned. Thus, the complex and highly demanding task of restoration (conservation, partial restoration and partial use for cultural activities) had to be balanced with the image of the ruin and maintain the integrity of the monument. Despite the objective difficulties of managing a monument of this size, the efforts of the project staff paid off, and the end result does them justice.
