Ancient Temple in Teos Will be Erected

The Seferihisar Municipality’s project in the scope of IZKA’s “The Financial Support Program on the Protection of Cultural Heritage” has been approved. The project covers the restitution and restoration project of Teos’ Dionysus temple. Seferihisar Mayor Tunç Soyer emphasized the importance of the project.

Teos ancient city in Seferihisar’s Sığacık district dates back to 2000 B.C. As the biggest harbour city in the Ionian Federation, Teos was one of the capitals of Ionia. The city is being unearthed as the archeological excavations are being carried out since 2009. The Dionysus temple of Teos is considered to be the biggest Dionysus temple of the world, since the artists of the ancient era were resided and the Actors’ Guild was founded in Teos.

Project Accepted

Seferihisar Municipality together with Izmir City Culture Directorate and Seferihisar Governorship applied for the IZKA (Izmir Development Agency) Grant Program on the Financial Support Program on the Protection of Cultural Heritage in 2017. The accepted project on the restitution and restoration plans of Dionysus temple of Teos ancient city has a budget of 259.472 TL, which will be 75% covered by IZKA. The contract will be signed in October 2018 and be finalized in 15 months including the follow-up of the approval of the related institutions and awareness projects on Teos.

One Day the Dream Will Come True

Seferihisar Mayor Tunç Soyer made a statement on the subject: “We are glad that the project has been approved. We made great efforts for the re-start of the excavations in Teos following our appointment to the office in 2009. We appreciate the support Mr. Ertuğrul Günay, The Minister of Culture at that corresponding term. The excavations are ongoing under the supervision of Prof.Dr. Musa Kadıoğlu from Ankara University Archeology Faculty. We keep on unearthing the artifacts in Teos. Thanks to the IZKA projects, we will be able to design renovation and restitution projects for Teos’ Dionysus Temple and apply for the approval by the related institutions. We do also plan to arrange an international conference on temple architecture and Hermogenes, the well-known architect of that temple. These practices will serve to increase the public recognition on Teos on national and international scale. And we hope that Teos will be invigorated as the first Actors’ Guild in the history.”

Teos

Teos was founded by the Cretans fleeing from Akha invasion around 2000 B.C. and was inhabited by the Carians for a long period of time. It was the center of Dionysus Actors’ Guild, where the actors were resided with certain privileges.