The Roman Theatre in Aosta was built in the late reign of Augustus, some decades after the foundation of the city (25 BC), as testified by the presence of pre-existing structures in the area. There was also an amphitheatre, built during the reign of Claudius, located nearby.
The theatre occupies three blocks annexed to the ancient city walls, along the Roman main road (the decumanus maximus, next to the Porta Praetoria. The structure occupied an area of 81 x 64 m, and could contain up to 3,500/4,000 spectators.
What remains today include the southern façade, standing at 22 m. The cavea was enclosed in a rectangular-shaped wall including the remaining southern part. This was reinforced by buttresses each 5.5 m from the other, and included by four orders of arcades which lightened its structure. It has been supposed that the theatre once had an upper cover, in the same way of the Theatre of Pompey in Rome.
The orchestra had a diameter of 10 m. The scene, of which only the foundations remain, was decorated by Corinthian columns and statues, and was covered with marble slabs.
A marketplace surrounded by storehouses on three sides with a temple in the centre with two on the open (south) side, as well as a thermae, also have been discovered.
Since 2011, the theatre is used for music shows and theatrical performs.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.