Musing on the Large Theatre

I admit it I am biased when it comes to the Large Theatre - well it’s my research area so I guess I *have* to be. I look at the photos being posted (and thank you everyone) but cant get out of my mind the feeling that whoever was in charge (and that is proving more difficult than it seams) had not read or at best not understood the Verona Charter on the Use of Ancient Places of Performance 1997.

While I could pick sound bites out of the Charter such as "Any changes made to the heritage must respect the principle of reversibility", or "Adequate information will have to be supplied to contractors, planners and all other partners on the possibilities afforded by the development of techniques for improving skills for the conservation and use of sites." or even "Maintenance, reinforcement and restoration work carried out on ancient places of performance must be based on sufficient scientific documentation and thorough archaeological analysis." but I will leave that to the reader if they are so inclined.

Perhaps I was unlucky and missed the memo on the restoration work (certainly last June my permissions for access to the Large Theatre were assured but upon their collection in September had been revoked) and it is not like I have the status of Frank Sear or Richard Beacham (both whom I have a working relationship with both who have an interest in the theatre and both who were as surprised as I).

Perhaps I am just being pessimistic an all of the appropriate surveying, analysis, recording and documentation was done to a level befitting a UNESCO world heritage site and even at this very moment is languishing in some out box ready to be published and included into the historical record of the site.

Perhaps the risk benefit of losing the theatre as she was (considering its changes over time since the original excavations) into a new venue to bring a much needed revenue stream into the scavi for other more deserving projects (after all we have a number of roman theatres and the cavea was only an "earth slope" after all) was weighed up, considered and found left wanting.

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps or may be not

D