romantheatre

Discovering Cartagena

More Articles By Phillip Bruce www.raxomnium.com

Lost Roman Theatre Rises Again

Such are the vagaries of history that Cartagena’s 6,000 seat theatre was lost for some 1,800 years. Happily, work is now well advanced on restoration and visitors can see the remains of one of the city’s glories of Roman times.

The theatre consisted not just of a stage and seating but also included gardens, cloisters and areas where citizens could enjoy peace and quiet or could discuss affairs of the city. Today archaeologists, architects, technical specialists and support crews are working hard to restore not just the remains but to recreate the sense of elegance that once filled this space at the heart of the city.

The theatre is easy to find. Start at the old town hall near the waterfront and look for the Calle Cañon. Walk slightly up hill to the end of this little street and turn right, up some steps, and you will come to the theatre. There is an information panel to read and visitors can walk into the theatre and view the remains and the restoration work that is now under way.

The date of the construction of the theatre can be established with a high degree of certainty. Two young princes in the time of the Emperor Augustus, Gaius and Lucius, were patrons and probably helped to pay for construction. They are mentioned on the lintels that once lined the access passages to the theatre. They were step nephews of Augustus and he planned great things for them. Gaius was introduced into public life in 7BC and his brother Lucius in 2BC, which was the year that the former Gaius Octavius who defeated Anthony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31BC, received his ultimate title “father of the country.” Lucius died in 2AD and Gaius in 4AD, spoiling the plans of Augustus. Lucius was being groomed for power in the west and Gaius in the east. However, in the theatre, the areas were reversed, according to local reference material, with the name of Lucius being found above the eastern entrance and Gaius in the west.

Propaganda and communication have always been key concerns of rulers, as is demonstrated by the employment of so many spin doctors and the PR campaigns of today. It is not surprising that Augustus and his protégées should be interested some 2,000 years ago in such a grand project as the theatre in the important Roman city of Cartagena.

The theatre was carefully planned and construction required extensive engineering works, including the excavation of a hillside to provide the seats for spectators who looked down onto the stage area. This stage area was, in fact, an impressive building that rose over 50 feet high and which housed scenery and equipment that allowed ambitious dramas to be presented. The exterior was richly decorated. The current public access follows the rough line of the stage building area and some of the decorative elements, such as beautifully carved column decorations can be seen deliberately left in place where they were buried for so many centuries. Look out also for pieces of the pink marble columns that may have come from the quarries of northern Murcia.

In front of the stage the seats rise up the hillside. The riff-raff sat up in the “gods” at the back with social status gradually improving the closer a person sat to the stage. Minor officials were seated below the rabble while the gentry and important officials and magistrates sat at the front. In the “cavea” right in front of the stage and the “orchestra” area, were three rows of seats for the real VIPs.

Behind the stage and scenery building there was a large piazza and garden area where theatre goers, presumably of the better class, could stroll, talk and relax before and after performances. Archaeologists can be seen today busily at work in this area, with new finds turning up all the time.

Sadly, the grand theatre was badly damaged by a fire at the end of the second century and it never really recovered from this disaster. In the fourth and fifth century the architectural elements of the theatre were used around a new space that served as a plaza and public market. During the brief Byzantine administration, in the middle of the sixth century, a small commercial development was built over the remains of the theatre. Islamic invasion followed and the theatre vanished with new housing being built over the ruins. No doubt, many stones and elements were re-used.

When the Christians returned in 1243 the theatre was forgotten and by the 16^th century the area was covered with rundown houses for fishermen and workers. In medieval times the area was a popular location for taverns. It wasn’t until the end of the 1980s that ruins were discovered and the early 1990s before it was confirmed that they were the remains of the long-lost Roman theatre.

Since then, a tremendous amount of planning and physical work has been done, together with fund raising, to bring the ancient theatre back to some of its former glory.

A very ambitious programme is now under way which is known as the Museum of the Roman Theatre of Cartagena project. The entire area is being investigated, restored and renovated in a co-coordinated programme largely designed by one of Spain’s most distinguished architects. José Rafael Moneo Vallés. This is a very sophisticated project with an enormous price tag, somewhere around the 45 million euro mark. The cost is being met by the regional government, the Cartagena town hall, the Cajamurcia bank, and the Roman Theatre Foundation.

The entrance to the series of linked areas will be at the 19^th century Pascual de Riquelme palace, opposite the restored town hall. This is currently covered with a large fabric screen that shows the outline of the project and which is well worth having a look at. Visitors will normally enter at this point and pass into ground level exhibition and display areas. Then there will be a level change upwards to more exhibition areas which leads into a long passageway leading into the theatre area. Large skylights and windows will provide plenty of natural lighting.

Another key element of the theatre site is the ruins of the old cathedral of Cartagena, one of the oldest churches in Spain. Saint James himself was said to have landed nearby, at the fishing village of Santa Lucia, personally bringing Christianity to the land. He is now venerated, in splendour, at Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain while there is little, if anything, to commemorate his arrival at Cartagena. The cathedral was finally destroyed during the Civil War. See elsewhere on the website for information on the cathedral. The ruins are incorporated into the plans for the theatre.

Visitors will come out of the passageway into the theatre and will see the magnificent ruins. Up on the hillside, above the seats there will be a landscaped garden, with other planting in and around the piazza behind the site of the stage. Columns are being recreated in the stage area and these will feature original construction techniques and colouring.

No plans have been announced for large-scale performances to take place in the theatre in the future but a small modern performance auditorium is located right next to the site, at the top of the hill on the left.

The aim appears to be to conserve the theatre in a manner that allows visitors to quietly contemplate the passage of the centuries and reflect on the history and dramas, both theatrical and real, that have been played out amidst these ancient stones.

The Roman Theatre is open Monday to Saturday, from 10.30am to 1.30pm and from 5pm to 7pm. On Sundays it is open from 10.30pm to 1.30pm.

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