The Roman theater of Mérida is a historical theater built by Ancient Rome in the Augusta Emerita colony , now Mérida ( Spain ). Its creation was promoted by the consul Marco Vipsanio Agripa and, according to a date inscribed in the theater itself, its inauguration took place around 16-15 BC. C. "Prince among the monuments of Mérida ", as the architect José Menéndez-Pidal called it, 1 the theater has been a World Heritage Site since 1993 as part of the archaeological complex of Mérida .
The theater has undergone several renovations, the most important during the 1st century AD. C., when the current stage front was raised, and another in the time of Constantine I , between 333 and 337. The theater was abandoned in the 4th century AD. After the officialization of the Christian religion in the Roman Empire , which considered theatrical performances immoral. Partially demolished and covered with earth, for centuries the only visible part of the building was the upper steps, baptized by the people of Mérida as "The Seven Chairs". Archaeological excavations in the theater began in 1910 and its partial reconstruction in 1962. Since 1933 it has hosted the celebration of the International Festival of Classical Theater of Mérida .
he construction of theaters in Ancient Rome responded more to political interests than to the tastes of the Roman people, who preferred to go to the circus to see chariot races and to the amphitheater to see combat between gladiators and animals. From the theater the authority carried out an efficient propaganda of itself and of the Roman way of life, both through the majesty of the building and its decoration as well as the messages that could be transmitted from its stage. The construction of the Mérida theater was projected together with that of the adjacent amphitheater at the time of the founding of the Roman city. Several inscribed tombstones indicate that the consul Marco Vipsanio Agrippa ,patronus coloniae , was the sponsor of the work and that it was inaugurated between 16 and 15 BC. C. These buildings could not miss shows a Roman colony also created to serve magnificently instrument romanización .
The use of the building for several centuries made necessary some reforms. Thus, sometime in the 1st century AD. C., either at the time of the Julio-Claudia 2 dynasty or the later Flavian dynasty , the current front of the scene was raised, which was reformed again between the years 333 and 337 together with the road that surrounds the building. Due largely to the official implantation of Christianity in the fourth century, a religion that considered theater performances immoral, the building was no longer used and was abandoned. With the passage of time some of its parts collapsed and others were blocked with earth. For centuries only the upper part of its bleachers with the vaults of the sunken vomitories was visible , so the inhabitants of the city believed they saw seven large seats, "The seven chairs", where according to legend as many Moorish kings sat to deliberate on the fate of the city.
The knowledge of the existence of the theater of Mérida, surprisingly, is quite recent. At the beginning of the 20th century, after many centuries of abandonment and dispossession, the building was still covered with earth, only the concrete protruding from the summa cavea , called "The seven chairs". In 1910 the excavations began, led by the Madrid archaeologist José Ramón Mélida . The structure of the theater appeared largely bare, with a cavea devoid of the granite ashlars that formed the seats, the stones of the scaena thrown intentionally and the rear façade, whose upper end was always uncovered, stripped of its powerful ashlars. However, the solid core ofopus caementicium has withstood time, neglect and looting to this day and has preserved the basic structure of the complex.
Since 1933 it houses the development of the International Classical Theater Festival of Mérida , with which it recovers its original function and transcends mere ornament. The reconstruction of the demolished scaena began in 1962 under the direction of the architect José Menéndez-Pidal y Álvarez , during some interventions that also relocated part of the ashlars of the stands, rebuilt some vomitories and part of the colonnade of the peristyle, parts that make us imagine what the theater must have looked like originally.
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