Preveza: restoring the cavea of Nikopolis theatre

The Culture Ministry is proceeding with the restoration of the lower cavea of the Great Theatre of Ancient Nikopolis, in Preveza, following the maturing of the relevant study. The intervention is the third phase of a multi-year programme of protection, conservation and restoration of the monument and includes the supply and installation of limestone seating in the lower cavea, as well as marble slabs for the floor of the orchestra. Specifically, it provides for the manufacture and installation of 167 new seats, so that each wedge of seating acquires a total of five rows, and for the reconstruction of the corresponding steps of the stairways. The project is funded by the Regional Operational Programme Epirus 2021-2027, while the previous phase had been funded by the corresponding programme for the 2014-2020 period.

The second phase, which has been completed, was essentially a rescue operation. The cast substructures of the seating and the stairways were consolidated and filled in, the surviving stone seats were repositioned and conserved, part of the corridor at the base of the cavea was restored and the parapet was re-erected. Sixteen new limestone seats were also installed on a pilot basis, so that the method could be tested before being extended. The material used is compatible limestone and the installation is carried out with reversible techniques, so that the new elements can be distinguished from the original ones without competing with them visually. The aim is to restore the morphological and functional legibility of the monument and to make visitor movement safer.

The incomplete cavea of today has a history of its own. The theatre was originally built in the age of Augustus and was extensively reconstructed in the 2nd century AD, with a steeper rake and a raised corridor towards the orchestra. Most of the stone seats were later removed and used as building material or burnt for the production of lime, as documented by three lime kilns recorded in the early 19th century by the British architect Thomas Leverton Donaldson. Today only parts of the first three rows of the lower cavea survive, along with a single isolated seat in the eleventh row. Nikopolis had been founded by Octavian Augustus after the naval battle of Actium in 31 BC and was settled by populations from Epirus, Aetolia-Acarnania and Lefkada along with Roman colonists.

The Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, described the Great Theatre as “one of the most important public buildings of the Roman city and a foremost monument of Epirus”, noting that the intervention complements the works already under way in the orchestra and forms part of an integrated plan to showcase the archaeological site. That plan includes a network of routes linking the Theatre, the Odeon and the Monument of Augustus, as well as special accessibility infrastructure for people with disabilities. According to her, from 2019 to date the works completed, under way or scheduled at Nikopolis exceed 10 million euros, with resources from the ROP Epirus, the Recovery Fund and the National Development Programme. No timetable for completing the third phase was announced. Making use of the cultural and productive assets of the regions is a concern elsewhere too, as the network of farms open to visitors being set up in the Dodecanese shows.