Taormina ancient theater
Coordinates: 37 ° 51 ′ 8.7 ″ N , 15 ° 17 ′ 32.2 ″ E
The Taormina Ancient Theater in Taormina is the second largest in Sicily after that of Syracuse .
history
A previous building was built by the Greeks in the 3rd century BC. Built as a theater for the performance of plays. This is why today's facility is often referred to as the Teatro Greco .
In the 2nd century BC A Roman building was built above it . It was converted into an arena in the 2nd century AD . The auditorium was again considerably expanded. After that, only gladiator and animal fights took place there.
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After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the theater fell into disrepair and was damaged by wars. The stage building was partially reconstructed in the 19th century. In 2017, the theater served as the backdrop for the group picture of the participants in the 2017 G7 summit .
description
The theater measures 120 m in length, 50 m in width and 20 m in height, faces south-west and is divided into the areas of stage, orchestra and grandstand (cavea). As it was built on top of an older Greek theater, it is embedded in the hillside, while Roman theaters were otherwise free-standing structures. The steps of the grandstand were partly cut into the existing rock and even then offered space for around 5400 spectators. The lowest step has a radius of 62 m, the top one of 147 m.
The stage building, which was built from brick in Roman times, shows a two-story façade on the spectator side with niches in which statues stood and columns in front. An opening about ten meters wide today offers a view of Mount Etna and the bay of Giardini-Naxos .
Next to the theater is the Antiquarium , a small archaeological museum. Although most of the archaeological finds are on display in the museums of Naples , Messina, and Syracuse , there are some exhibits here that are worth seeing. Interesting, among other things, is a marble plinth with an inscription that says that Tauromenion achieved a horse racing title at the ancient Olympic Games .
reception
1886–1888 Gustav Klimt used motifs from the ancient Taormina theater in the ceiling painting of the staircase of the Burgtheater in Vienna .
In 1995 Woody Allen shot several scenes of his film Beloved Aphrodite in the ancient theater of Taormina.
literature
- Lanfranco Angeli: Taormina. Pearl of the Mediterranean. F.lli Mistretta, Palermo 1988.
