343-350

Bringing the odeon and the cryptoporticus in Thessaloniki's ancient agora into use again

• Αδάμ - Βελένη, Πολυξένη

Nineteen ninety-seven was a very special year for the Ancient Agora in Thessaloniki.Since Thessaloniki was the European City of Culture that year, we thoughtthat the least we could do to mark the occasion was to open the site to the public.With this in mind, we gave priority to certain aspects of restoration so that theodeon and the cryptoporticus could become functional. In full awareness of the riskof such a decision, and possibly for the first time in the annals of archaeology,structures —the odeon and the cryptoporticus— were brought into use again beforethe whole site had been fully developed. This was considerably assisted, in fact, bythe «development and display» survey, which provides separate points of access tothe various structures, so that they can function independently. The multiple uses ofboth the odeon and the cryptoporticus thus amply repaid the long efforts of a largework team that has been trying to bring the work to completion for the last sevenyears.The odeon was officially opened in June 1997 in a splendid ceremony organisedby the A. G. Levendis Foundation, thanks largely to whose generous sponsorshipthe restoration was completed in time (Fig. 1). The opening was followed by anumber of theatrical, musical, and literary events. After some seventeen centuries,this little theatre was revived and used again, hosting both foreign and Greek theatre(Fig. 2) and music groups, tributes to Greek poets, and events dedicated to thememory of the archaeologists Julia Vokotopoulou and Maria Siganidou, all in theframework of the celebrations organised by Thessaloniki ’97, the Cultural CapitalOrganisation.The cryptoporticus had been brought into use the previous year, in October1996, with a successful evening of music and literature that was something of a“trial run” (Fig. 3). The play Christ Suffering had its world premiere here, staged bythe Volos Drama Club, at Easter 1997; and two major exhibitions were held in thesummer and the autumn of that year: one on ancient Greek technology (Fig. 4) andthe other on ancient Macedonian inscriptions.The educational programme sponsored by the Cultural Capital Organisation wasrepeated twice, in the spring and the autumn (Fig. 5). Some 6,500 primary andsecondary school children visited the site and learnt about its history through anenjoyable lesson-cum-game that had been specially designed and adapted to thespecific nature of an archaeological site that was at the same time operating as a worksite. All these activities did not hold up the progress of the restoration work, whichhas continued unabated so that we can honour our ROP commitment to completethe development of most of the site by the end of the century. The middle threedoorways of the odeon have been reconstructed, the glass floor (Fig. 6) of theorchestra of the bouleuterion has been laid, and the installation of a protectiverailing and a wooden access ramp has made it possible for the odeon to functionwith its own separate entrance. The floor on top of the north barrel vault of thecryptoporticus was paved (Fig. 7). Sections of walls were restored in the east wingand in the insula to the south of the commercial road, and restoration work wasdone on the mosaics at the north end of the east portico. In autumn 1997, the firstunderground storeroom on the Olymbou St. side was finished and inaugurated withan exhibition of paintings on the subject of the Ancient Agora itself (Fig. 8).

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

Αγορά, Θεσσαλονίκη, συνέδρια

Περιέχει εικόνες