Featuring an Ottoman and republic-era village square and also known as the "city of gladiators," Turkey's ancient city of Stratonikeia is undergoing restoration that helps to increase the number of visitors with 3D visuals.
Included in the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List, the ancient city is located in the Yatağan district of Muğla, which stretches along Turkey's Aegean coast.
"While restoring the buildings, we also reproduce them with 3D technology so that the visitors can get a closer look at the structures of that period," Stratonikeia and Lagina excavation director professor Bilal Söğüt said.
In Stratonikeia, one of the largest marble cities in the world, the excavations that started in 1977 continue throughout the year. The archaeological site is important for the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Beylik of Menteşe, Ottoman and Republican periods, and new artifacts are unearthed every year. Likewise, the historical buildings in the city are also being restored.
Visitors to the rebuilt structures in the city first watch the structures on the screen with 3D technology in the area they are in, experience the spirit of that period and then tour the restored structures. Visitors can also watch the structures in 3D on the internet and on the social media pages of the excavation.
"There are Byzantine period buildings among them. Thus, the texture that combines many periods here is in the center of the city, where the Ottoman period is the most important. While we restore these structures, we turn them into a place where visitors to the city can easily walk around and see them," Söğüt said.
Noting that the Western Street, Roman baths, Parliament building, Ağa mansions and Republican period houses create an interesting atmosphere in the central area, he said: "In previous years, we revived the Seljuk bath of the Menteşe Beylic period and the mosque that has been used since the period of the beyliks. Now we have restored the Semerci Ömer House and the village cafe located at the entrance of the city. We preserve these structures in a holistic sense."
"When people come here and see these structures, they experience the essence of the period when they leave the hammam, go to the mosque and sit in the garden of the house, and also learn how the wells were used. Thus, we strive to establish the texture of living archaeology and the city of history here and present it to visitors."
Emphasizing that the visitors are happier when they see the old state of the buildings in 3D while walking on the stone-paved roads of the Ottoman period, Söğüt said that people are able to understand that period and structures better.
Bilal Söğüt explained that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Muğla Governorship and Yatağan Municipality contributed to the restoration of the buildings in the village square and that they first reconstructed the buildings in 3D models and then gradually started to physically work on the buildings.
