Views of almost every large ancient town were adorned by a beautiful and, from an architectural point of view, a richly articulated theatre building.
Issa’s theatre is one of the four until now archeologically determined, theatres on Croatian soil. It was built on the small peninsula of Prirovo in the 1st or 2nd century AD.
Remains of Issa’s theatre are not completely visible today because, at the beginning of the 16th century, cloistered Franciscan monks built their monastery over it.
However, it proves that the remains of the theatre were well preserved so, from a static point of view, they were able to support the walls of the monastery built on top of them.
As with all other ancient theatres, Issa’s theatre to consists of three main parts: the auditorium (cavea), the orchestra pit(orchestra), and the stage (scaenae frons).
All that can be seen of the Issae theatre today is the outer part of the semicircular wall with its preserved frieze.
In the basement of the monastery, part of the vaulted hall that served as support of the upper rows of stone seats in the auditorium has been preserved.
The other architectural parts of the theatre are underground. It is possible to visit the theatre with prior agreement with the Franciscan monks.
