Architecture of Antique Theaters as an Element of the World Cultural Landscape

In: Observatorija kul'tury: Observatory of culture, Volume 17, Issue 3, p. 320-332

Abstract

The article deals with the history of development of the antique theatrical architecture in the context of the environment that forms the territory acquiring the status of a cultural landscape. The material of antiquity is interpreted in the aspect of the formation evolution of theater buildings, ranging from ancient Greek to ancient Roman, which, despite being in ruins, amaze us with their large-scale and unspoiled architecture. The article attempts to systematize the valuable evidence of the past, material (theater architecture) and non-material (theater art), since the repertoire is alive as long as it is performed, and the theater architecture remains to posterity. There is considered their relationship in space and time. The study's methods (descriptions of the phenomena under study, field observation, problem-historical analysis) made it possible to focus on the construction specifics of the theater buildings located in open spaces representing cultural landscapes — vast areas of co-creation of man and nature. Over the epochs, the theater architecture, designed for spectacular performances and connected with the environmental factor and acting art, was transforming, just as the theater itself was changing, sometimes within a single performance on a single stage. Fragments of the lost cultural experience are today open systems in associative, semantic, historical aspects, as well as in terms of objects reconstruction. They form an attractive and popular place that goes beyond the limits of urban planning conditions and has the property of an important public space. The composition of theater construction and the principles of shaping that formed in the ancient period had a great influence on their subsequent development and have been preserved in modern design solutions. In this context, the experience of interpreting the architectural monuments belonging to the theatrical art has a great cultural and educational value, not only in terms of reconstructing the lost stratum of cultural heritage, but also, to a greater extent, in modeling a new vision of the emerging architectural culture of the world.