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Fig. 6.
The ancient entrance
stairway to the agora
(archive photo).
sea-level), the stylobate’s height (3.90 metres above sea-level) and
the inside height of the rooms (4.10 metres above sea-level). From
the heights uniformity, elements belonging to other building stages
come out, such as the laboratory of colours, or the medieval pipelines,
up to the Roman tholos, situated in the south-west corner of
the excavation area.
Further interventions which make the monument’s readability
easier concern the settlement of the excavation boundaries, with the
consequent establishment of the visiting paths and the addiction of
explanatory panels in the stop places.
The protection wall, 1 metre high, defines the eastern and northern
sides of the excavation. On the eastern side, a stop point allows to
visualize the ancient entrance stairway to the agora (fig. 6). Along
the south and west sides the enclosure isn’t drawn by a wall but by a
railing, so as to let visitors perceive the continuity of the monument
along the surrounding street and square. Both the wall and the railing
are realized according to the standards already used in other
archaeological sites of Kos.
As to the pavements surrounding the excavation, there are plans to
be enlarge them; it’s also suggested to plant single little trees along the
pavement on the southern side of the excavation and thickly-planted
vegetation on the northern side, creating a natural barrier to hide the
modern buildings.
The site is not accessible to the public, but exclusively the Maintenance
Inspectorate staff is allowed to enter, through a metal stair
settled in the north-west corner.
The lighting project also has an important part in view of the valorization
of the archaeological complex. The introduction of a beam
inside a context which doesn’t imply it causes in any case an alteration;
for this reason a critical approach is required, that is able to
emphasize rather than contradict what restoration brought back.
Therefore ensues great suggestiveness with absolute respect for the
monument.
Then the main themes faced by the project are:
the readability of archaeological ruins, become at this point an integrant
part of the landscape contest which englobes them, in order
to historicize them but above all emphasize their belonging to an
indeed wider dimensioned monument;
the recomposition of the relationship between the excavated areas
and the contemporary urban tissue;
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