the archeological site of Hierapolis was first investigated by a German team in the 19th century.
it was extensively investigated and partially restored from 1957 onwards by teams funded by the Italian ministeries of Foreign and of culture and environment.
This mission included archaeologists, engineers and architects who elucidated the plans of the town an mian town buildings and restored several of them.
It also studied the exceptional number of funerary and other epigraphs.
Many publications resulted from this work .