Open Air Theatre of Opatija

The Open Air Theatre is situated on the green “peninsula” of the well-known Opatija’s “Angiolina Park”, right by the sea. This unique location and its ambiance created by the combination of stone walls and greenery make it the most spectacular and the most beautiful venue of this kind in the Mediterranean. The main stage area can seat 2500, or alternatively offer 5000 standing places, and with the stage of 21×12 meters it is an ideal spot for all kinds of performances, be it music, play or combined art forms, from the classical opera, operetta, ballet and musicals, across contemporary jazz, pop, and rock concerts to many other social happenings of various kinds. The small stage area can seat 600 and with its stage that measures 10×10 meters, apart from being the “little big stage”, it gives the audience a much more intimate feeling with a bigger cohesion and interaction among those present. It is ideal for staging smaller formats of dramatic and musical performances. The location where the Open Air Theatre stands today was originally intended for a much more ambitious project at the beginning of the 20th century – a multipurpose health resort palace (Kurpalast), for which there was a public tender inviting for architectural bids in 1911. The architects Marcel Kammerer, Otto Schönthal and Emil Hoppe drafted a blueprint of a palace with ballrooms for balls and concerts, swimming pool with artificial waves, shops and cafés. Unfortunately, the onset of the World War I disrupted this splendid development of Opatija. After the war was over, by the Treaty of Rapallo from 1920, Istria – with Opatija included – came under the Italian rule and instead of a health resort palace, the Open Air Theatre was built.

It obtained its present form according to the project by the famous Croatian architect, Neven Šegvić, in 1957. Since then, it has been hosting operas, ballets, symphony orchestras, folk-dance performances, concerts and plays.