The Rose Theatre was the first playhouse on the
Thames River's South Bank (in
London) and a competitor during the
Globe Theatre's early
existence.
Philip Henslowe opened the Rose in 1587 and tore it down due to deterioration and competition in 1605. (aka five years after the Globe opened.) The Rose's name comes from the fact that it was originally built on a leased rose garden. Plays debuted at the Rose include
Shakespeare's
Titus Andronicus and
Marlowe's
The Jew of Malta.
In 1989, the Rose's foundations were rediscovered during a
construction project. After quite a bit of argument over what to do with the construction project after finding such a thing, scientists were given time to properly preserve the foundations before the new building was built on top of them -- but leaving out the bottom floor so the Rose foundations could eventually be redisplayed. The information gathered by partially
excavating the ruins greatly helped to reconstruct Shakespeare's
Globe. Recently, the "basement" of the building on the Rose site reopened with exposure to the caps on the foundations and a light show to point out exactly where they are and a little bit about what they mean. It's a little
murky, but you can go see it all for a few
quid!
For more info, see http://www.rdg.ac.uk/rose/