January 2020
over-renovated
On my trip to Valencia, one of the day trips planned was to Sagunto to see its Roman amphitheatre. The trip started early. I first went to Segorbe, highly recommended in someone's travel blog and sadly not meeting expectations. I then took the train back to Sagunto certain I would like the town not least of which because it was recommended highly by SF who had spent time in Valencia. Indeed, Sagunto was a charming Spanish town and I liked it immediately. I was most interested in its amphitheatre, however.
The Teatro romano de Sagunto is a Roman theatre located in Sagunto, Spain. It was declared Bien de Interés Cultural in 1896. The Roman Theatre of Sagunto is located at the foot of the mountain, crowned by Sagunto Castle. It occupies the intermediate terrace, between the city and the upper platform chaired by the Forum, Civic Center of the municipality, responding to an urban planning of the times of Emperor Augustus. It was built in the middle of the first century, using the slope of the mountain. It consists of two distinct parts: the cavea or grandstands, semicircular and composed by three orders of stands and the scaene, which rises to the height of the top of the grandstands porch. It is semicircular in shape and can seat 8,000 spectators.
The theatre was fully renovated and ready for modern use. This was something I had played over in my mind repeatedly when I visited old Greco-Roman sites especially - why not just restore it? Well, the Valencianos did and the result was awful. It ended up being a modern theatre on a Roman base. Yes, a lot of the old stonework was visible, but the entire feel of it being "ancient" was erased. That was my first experience of seeing something old totally renovated into modern use and all my fantasies of how "great" it would be were fully dashed. No worries, there were unrenovated Roman amphitheatres in use all over the place (most notably in Jordan [see: Roman Amphitheatre, Amman]). Something did not have to be "brought back to its original state" in order for it to be of use - lesson learned.
The higher levels of Roman Sagunto were more interesting. The ex-forum and some old temples lie in ruin on the hill above the theatre. The views over countryside and coast were spectacular. The nearby castle was equally impressive, but the main attraction? Sorry to say, I was sadly disappointed. It did teach me an important lesson: something ancient brought back to "new" will no longer appear ancient because something is lost in the process. If the Temple of Karnak in Egypt were fully renovated, or the Parthenon in Athens, or ruined temples scatter across Bagan in Myanmar - they would be beautiful, but they would also no longer feel "old" and part of the experience of visiting said places is to bask in their "ancientness".
An important observation made in my travels, ironically, just before the world closed down for the pandemic for awhile, I am happy I was able to travel long enough to learn it.