Hvar Theater

The Arsenal of Hvar is the most important public building of the island. Built in the 13th century on the jurisdiction of Venice. At first, the Arsenal was used as a shipyard, storeroom for ships and marine equipment, but over the time it experienced significant changes in the size and its use. What matters for the present state of matter, are its updates to the main volume, with the most important in the construction of the theater, on the first floor. Thus the Arsenal became more than a maritime and military building, and turned into the important urban determination of the town of Hvar. The theater of the town of Hvar, which is located in the building of the Arsenal is a monument of the highest category of national importance for Croatia. It is a cultural and social symbol of the city. It was founded in 1612 and is considered to be the first municipal theater in Europe, which means the oldest. The construction of the theater offered the space for social and cultural events to all social classes. The early years of the formation of the Hvar Theater put it in a prominent place in the history of theater in general. At first, the plays were performed in public areas such as Piazza Hvar, until later, according to the model of Italian theaters, it has organized a space for running local literary works, as Robinja, Jedupka and Hvarkinja. The most important representatives of the Hvar theater, whose works were shown here were Hanibal Lucic, Miksa Pelegrinovic, Marin Gazarovic and Martin Benetovic. The repertoire of the Hvar theater offers a ratio of display of traditional and foreign dramas today. When in one of the cozy Hvar apartments, follow the information of the plays on the Plaza of Hvar as their number increases significantly during the summer.