The World Heritage Committee has inscribed 721 properties on the World Heritage List (554 cultural, 144 natural and 23 mixed in 124 States Parties). The List, arranged alphabetically by nominating State Party, is current as of December 2001. The list will be updated following the next meeting of the Committee in June 2002. The complete list is at UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site

Arausio, The Roman Theater at Orange, France

It’s 20 centuries later, and the acoustics still can’t be beat

Sometime around the birth of Jesus, the Romans built a 7,000-seat theater at Arausio in southern France, a former capital of the now vanquished Celts. It was a conventional design, with its steeply tiered rows of benches forming a semicircle around the proscenium. It was also big. The stage, varying in depth from 40 to 50 feet, ran 210 feet along the base of the theater’s great 120-foot-high, 340-foot-wide stage wall. The castle-like wall, with its entranceways and exits, featured the obligatory statue of Caesar in an arched niche above stage center. 

Besides its bold dimensions, where the theater defied convention was in its superb acoustics. Even the cheapest ticket in the house, for a seat situated at the theater’s highest and furthest point, bought its holder an ability to hear stage whispers without straining. Roman engineers had succeeded in building a provincial theater that became known throughout the empire.

Two thousand years later, on several counts, we moderns are just as impressed at the site as the Romans were. The great acoustics come through the centuries intact, thanks to the preservation of the massive stage wall, which did not suffer onslaughts from quarrying, vandals or destructive earthquakes. With the exception of old stone seats, which had become eroded and broken (they were restored in the 19^th century), the theater had weathered 20 centuries remarkably well. Even the statue of Caesar above the stage remained steadfast in its niche.

That power of endurance was what led UNESCO to name the theater at present-day Orange in France’s Rhone Valley (named after the Dutch royal house that once owned it) a World Heritage Site in 1981, describing it as “one of the best preserved of all the great Roman theaters.”

The theater is so well preserved that it’s still used as a musical and theatrical venue. One of the most notable annual events that take place there is Les Chorégies d'Orange, an annual lyric festival that relies on the Roman theater’s remarkable acoustics to present unamplified operas, oratorios and choral works. Les Chorégies, which started in 1860, is presented every summer and has become one of the region’s most venerated musical festivals.

This year, Les Chorégies’ season runs from July 6 through August 3 and will present music by Mozart, Gounod and Orff, as well as a lyrical concert.

An Amphitheater NOT!

Even Orange’s inhabitants, who should know better, and seasoned tour operators often make the mistake of referring to the old Roman theater as an amphitheater. The mistake is understandable: “Amphitheater” for most people has come to mean almost any ancient Greek or Roman outdoor stage. But, technically, amphitheaters are theaters in the round, where the actors are surrounded by the audience.

Not that amphitheaters got much use as sites for plays. With no stage walls to direct and bounce back sound waves, Romans used amphitheaters for events that didn’t require good acoustics, such as sports or gladiatorial competitions. The theater at Orange, with its audience-facing stage is, for all its size and depth, a conventional theater. — Patrick Totty