Ancient Stratonikeia to have stone hospital

MUĞLA

A new building is under construction for destroyed stones that have been unearthed during excavations in the ancient city of Stratonikeia. The new building will serve as a “stone hospital,” which was previously a tent.

Archaeological excavations have been ongoing in Stratonikeia, located in the Eskihisar neighborhood of Yatağan district in the western province of Muğla. In addition, the restoration works in the Seljuk Bath, Şaban Ağa Mosque and Bılla House, belonging to the Anatolian, Seljuk and Ottoman states’ periods, are continuing in the city.

The destroyed stone artifacts found during the works in the city are arranged in accordance with the original. Officials decided to build a building for the “stone hospital,” which has been serving under the tent set up in the garden of the excavation directorate building.

With the support of the South Aegean Development Agency and under the presidency of the Yatağan District Governor’s Office, it will be a restoration building for historical artifacts, with a 2.5 million Turkish Lira project that is carried in the ancient city of Stratonikeia and Lagina Sanctuary. It is stated that the building to be built on a 160-square-meter closed area will be single storey.

The head of the Stratonikeia excavation committee Bilal Söğüt said that they brought the architectural stone artifacts in the city, where uninterrupted life has been going on since the Hellenistic period, to the stone hospital after the excavation works and strengthened the damaged parts.

Stating that there will be a large crane in the building to lift the damaged columns, Söğüt said, “Our construction work, which is carried out on a 160-square-meter area with a steel construction frame, without foundation, continues at full speed. The tender of this place was held at the end of 2019. The work is planned to be completed and delivered to us in April.”

“This work is a leg of our project, which we have financed last year and is worth about 2.5 million liras. The construction of this building, warehouse and restoration workshop continues. There are also works in the Lagina Sanctuary,” Yatağan District Governor Hayrettin Çiçek said.

He said that more efficient studies will be carried out in Stratonikeia with the completion of the stone hospital and added, “According to the information provided by the contractor, only the construction will be finished soon. Hopefully it will be completed in the coming days. This way, repair works and cleaning of our works from excavations will be carried out in this workshop. This way, many works will be revived.”

The ancient city of Stratonikeia was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 2015. It is one of the most important historical centers of Yatağan region and known as “City of Gladiators” because of the biggest sports school in the region.