> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://romanempiretimes.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Video: Pula’s Roman City Becomes a Stage for Light Art - URL: https://romanempiretimes.com/pula-visualia-2026-roman-city-light-art/ - Published: 2026-09-25T17:54:26.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-25T17:54:26.000Z - Description: Over three September evenings, Visualia brought projections and installations to Pula’s historic centre. The programme reached the Roman Forum and Small Roman Theatre. - Author: George Liapis - Tags: Roman Empire News, Pula, Croatia, Light Festival, augustus, Roman forum Visualia brought contemporary light art to Pula, Croatia, from 17 to 19 September 2026\. Its organiser listed 23 works across 16 locations, including the Forum and the Small Roman Theatre. Euronews published a video report on 22 September, after the three-night festival had ended, which you may witness below. The programme used streets, squares and public buildings throughout the historic centre. Projection, mapping and installations appeared beside places that still carry evidence of Roman Pula. The festival was a contemporary event set within an ancient city, rather than a reconstruction of how that city once looked. Euronews described the city's Roman architecture as a backdrop for works about peace, nature, relationships and technology. ## Light art at the Forum The festival placed two works at Pula's Forum: the 360-degree projection *Chromaflora* and the mapped work *A Butterfly Flapping Its Wings*. The Forum was the public square of the Roman city. That location made the modern projections visible within an urban space whose ancient role remains legible today. The Temple of Augustus stands on the Forum's northwestern side. The Archaeological Museum of Istria says the temple was dedicated to Roma and [Augustus](https://romanempiretimes.com/from-octavian-to-augustus-the-making-of-romes-first-emperor/) and dates its dedication to between 2 BCE and 14 CE from the emperor's title in its inscription. The museum also describes an earlier temple whose foundations remain beside it and beneath City Hall. Pula's Forum was not Rome's Forum, and the festival's projections were not Roman artworks. The connection from antiquity to contemporary times is the setting: a surviving civic square still used for public activity. 🏛️ Readers interested in another way Roman public space carried information can see our account of [how daily notices circulated from the Roman Forum](https://romanempiretimes.com/acta-diurna-how-rome-made-news-public/). ## A performance at the Small Roman Theatre At the Small Roman Theatre, the programme listed *Point of View*, an installation by Visualia Studio. The Archaeological Museum dates the theatre to the early Augustan period, in the third quarter of the first century BCE. It stood on slopes below the city's central hill and was one of Pula's ancient public entertainment venues. The museum says the theatre was excavated and conserved in stages, with extensive work in 2021–22 shaping its present appearance. It now hosts art, music and drama. The light installation therefore occupied a place already returned to public performance, although the organiser's programme does not describe the work as a recreation of an ancient spectacle. Roman theatres took different forms across the empire. Our articles on [the Roman theatre of Philadelphia, now Amman](https://romanempiretimes.com/the-epic-roman-theater-of-philadelphia-amman/) and the [Enigmatic Acoustics of Herodes Atticus Odeon in Athens, Greece](https://romanempiretimes.com/whispers-through-marble-the-enigmatic-acoustics-of-herodes-atticus-odeon/), offer a comparison with other surviving venues. Pula's theatre has its own archaeological history; the comparison does not establish what any ancient audience in Pula saw. ![Temple of Augustus, in Pula (Croatia)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/aa/80/aa80281a-abce-4f35-865f-05153c8cc335/content/images/2026/09/Temple-of-Augustus--in-Pula--Croatia-.jpg) Temple of Augustus, in Pula (Croatia). Credits: Patrick Rouzet, CC BY-SA 3.0 ## The Arena in the wider picture Euronews uses Pula's amphitheatre to frame the city visually. The Arena is a central part of Pula's Roman heritage, with the festival's published list also naming Hotel Amfiteatar for the projection *Walking Towards Peace*. The Archaeological Museum's history of the Arena records its later losses and repairs, including the removal of stone from its interior and conservation work in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The building visible today therefore has a long history after Roman use. Its continued presence helps explain why Pula's ancient architecture remains prominent in coverage of a citywide festival. Pula's Arena's original fabric also invites a wider question about [how Roman amphitheatres were equipped for spectators](https://romanempiretimes.com/a-sail-above-the-sand-did-the-colosseum-really-have-a-retractable-roof/), with recent accounts listing surprising features, even [naval battles hosted in the Colosseum](https://romanempiretimes.com/how-did-romans-flood-the-colosseum-for-naval-battles-in-the-arena/). ## What the video adds Euronews' short report shows the light works in motion, something simple imagery cannot convey. The organiser's description identifies participating artists from several European countries and farther afield. The programme supplies the work titles and locations needed to place those images in Pula rather than treating every illuminated building as a Roman monument. The programme also spread beyond ancient sites. It named the city gallery, cathedral, archaeological museum building, parks and an observatory among its venues. The art was therefore distributed through a city with several historical layers, even as Pula's Roman remains gave the story its distinctive setting. All in all, it is wonderful to witness how a modern arts programme, used Pula's public and historic spaces over three September evenings, to illuminate not only buildings, but also minds and souls. 🏛️ ****Sources used:** [Visualia Festival, 2026 programme and venue list](https://visualia-festival.com/?ref=romanempiretimes.com) [Euronews, “Ancient Roman Pula transformed by contemporary light art,” 22 September 2026](https://www.euronews.com/video/2026/09/22/ancient-roman-pula-transformed-by-contemporary-light-art?ref=romanempiretimes.com) [Archaeological Museum of Istria, “Small Roman Theatre”](https://www.ami-pula.hr/en/locations/small-roman-theater/?ref=romanempiretimes.com) [Archaeological Museum of Istria, “Temple of Augustus”](https://www.ami-pula.hr/en/locations/temple-of-augustus/?ref=romanempiretimes.com) [Archaeological Museum of Istria, “History of the Arena”](https://www.arenapula.hr/en/about-amphitheater/history/?ref=romanempiretimes.com)