The Gallo-Roman Theatre, located in Alba-la-Romaine, France, is an element of the monumental decoration of Alba Helviorum. A first building was constructed around 20 B.C.E, and the theatre underwent three successive phases of construction and development, characterized by enlargement and monumentalization. It appears to have been neglected starting from the end of the 3rd century.
Identified as a theatre in 1819-1821, the site has undergone numerous excavations and restorations. The total clearance of the cavea dates to 1982, and the monument was listed as a historical monument in 1986. Recent work in 2019-2020 restored the theatre to its second-century configuration, featuring a wooden stage built over the Aunas stream.
The theatre's architecture shows a transition from indigenous to Roman culture. The third state of the monument, completed around 120 A.D, features a cavea with a diameter of approximately 50 meters, a shape partially inherited from architectural traditions. The theatre features a narrow forestage that does not occupy the entire width of the monument. It has a seating capacity of six thousand, which was approximately one-sixth of the estimated forty thousand inhabitants of the civitas Helviorum.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nicolo Ciampini
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