The Red Hall in Pergamon is one of the most monumental buildings that the Roman emperors commissioned outside of Rome. After archaeologists researched this ancient sanctuary until 2005, the conservation of the Red Hall has now been completed. The around 1900 year old building in what is now Turkey is now accessible and tangible for tourists.
Pergamon, located near the Turkish Aegean coast, has probably been inhabited since the second millennium BC. But the fortified city was given a prominent role especially in ancient Greece and Rome. In the 3rd to 1st century BC the city was a political, but also a cultural and religious center of the ancient world. It owned an important library, impressive buildings and works of art and the Asclepius sanctuary, which is frequented beyond the region. For a time Pergamon served as the capital of the Roman province of Asia, but then lost its importance compared to the port cities of Smyrna and Ephesus.
Great building by Emperor Hadrian
Because the area was not overbuilt by modern settlement, impressive remains of the Roman, but also the Byzantine era are preserved in Pergamon. German archaeologists have been working to uncover and research the ancient remains of the city and its structures for 135 years. One of the prominent traces from Roman times is an ancient large building that the Emperor Hadrian once had built in the second century AD to worship Egyptian and local deities. It is a baked brick basilica, from which it owes its modern name, Kızıl Avlu (“Red Hall”).
Flanked by two round towers, the Red Hall bordered a huge square, for the construction of which a river was canalized over a length of over 200 meters. This makes the Red Hall one of the most monumental structures that the Roman emperors commissioned outside the capital Rome. From 2002 it was the focus of a research project by archaeologists at the German Archaeological Institute under the direction of A. Hoffmann. The team carried out extensive investigations of the Red Hall and its building history. After the scientific exploration of the sanctuary had ended in 2005, conservation work began the following year.
Preserved and prepared for museum purposes
Now the time has come: On October 3, 2020, the extensive project for the conservation of the Red Hall was completed. The aim was to combine monument preservation and touristic presentation. In a total of 14 work campaigns, each lasting two months, the southern round tower was first conserved and designed as a museum, a monumental image of a god was reconstructed in its original size, the basement of the complex was secured and prepared as a depot for archaeological finds and finally the 16 meter high south wall of the sanctuary was restored. In ancient times, this huge wall had been secured with two supporting pillars, which in turn threatened to collapse. The last reconstructed arch stones could be moved there at the end of September.
In parallel with the work of the German Archaeological Institute, the basilica itself and the northern rotunda were restored by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The long-term project could therefore be seen as a prime example of German-Turkish cooperation, according to the DAI. The conservation of the Red Hall will not only make an important contribution to the tourist upgrading of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Bergama-Pergamon. The long-standing construction site was, in the sense of a construction hut, also a training center for unskilled workers who were trained as stonemasons. In this way, sustainable skills were created to safeguard the cultural heritage of future generations and at the same time the professional opportunities of the trainees were improved.
Source: German Archaeological Institute