A Construction Crew Was Restoring a City Hall—And Found an Ancient Roman Theater Underneath
An earthquake in Sisak, Croatia, forced renovations to the local city hall, and revealed a Roman-era theater in the basement of the building.
The discovery sheds new light on the history of the city and its stature as a Roman outpost.
Archaeologists uncovered semi-circular rows to hold audiences, and even the theater's stage.
A damaging earthquake in Croatia had an unexpected bright side—revealing hidden Roman-era secrets. Crews working in the basement to restore the city hall of Sisak, Croatia, after a 2020 earthquake discovered a small Roman theater, complete with stone rows and the theater's stage.
The find, as announced by Croatia's Ministry of Culture and Media, shows how Sisak grew from a Roman military outpost into a full-fledged city sometime during the third century A.D., with the small theater, known as an odeon, a sign of the prominence.
According to Brittanica, an odeum is a small concert hall, typically constructed as a theater for both musicians and orators to perform. They were not as grand as amphitheaters, but were similarly designed so that all instruments—or voices—could be easily heard.
Archaeologists called in to investigate the discovery uncovered three parallel semi-circular rows of stone blocks to hold an audience (all roughly 65 feet across), space for an orchestra, and the theater's podium (stage).
'This extremely valuable find, which provides new insight into the size of the ancient city and further completes the interpretation of the urbanism of ancient Sisak,' the ministry wrote in a translated statement.
At some point, a 'monumental building with buttresses' was built over the theater, although archaeologists said more research is needed to understand what that building was designed for. The city hall structure was constructed in 1914 over the older buildings already on site.
Croatian officials didn't know the odeum existed under the city's main government building until the 2020 earthquake, which caused structural damage to the site that required extensive underground work. Structural reinforcement needs sent crews digging below the existing structure, and that effort revealed the history of the site.
To avoid again burying the odeum, the city has preserved the ruins at the current location and created a window into the past with glass flooring.
While the northern Croatia city is now known as Sisak, it was once Roman Siscia, and was most prominent in the late third century, according to Atlas Obscura. It was even named a capital city in 295 A.D., and was known for minting bronze coins for Rome.
The restoration of Sisak's city hall has revitalized its original color, the original design of the main entrance (created by Dionis Sunko in 1914), the original main gable, and the original tiling of the building.
Not much of the original Siscia still remains, save for a piece of a defensive wall outside the Sisak Cathedral. This newly-discovered Roman odeum has now become a prominent piece of the city's history, and will be a part of its future for many years to come.
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