The summers in Dubrovnik have been marked for over fifty years by the most significant cultural event in Croatia - the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. July 10th marks the opening of the festival with an evening’s ceremony in which the Count of Dubrovnik presents the City Keys to the actors. The forty-five day event is filled with music, drama and huge audiences that revel in the gifts of the Muses in the unique stage-setting of the city of Dubrovnik.

The Dubrovnik Summer Festival, throughout its rich history of musical and theatrical events, has involved performances by the most renowned musicians of the world and by the most publicly acclaimed theatrical playwrights and ensembles. The interior of the Old Town lends a special appeal to Dubrovnik’s festival, where one can experience musical, theatrical and artistic events. The cultural-historical sights of Dubrovnik, the Renaissance palaces and churches, the city squares and streets, the Rectors Palace, the Sponza - a former mint and customhouse, the summer residences of the Dubrovnik aristocracy - all combine to create a unique stage setting. William Shakespeares play of the tragic Danish prince - "Hamlet" is one of the most performed theatrical events of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. Shakespeare’s "Hamlet" is tied permanently to the unique ambience of Fort Lovrijenac and has become virtually the Festivals trademark. On Lovrijenac, Hamlet has been played by Derek Jacobi, Daniel Day Lewis, Rade Serbedzija and each summer, by Goran Visnjic. Besides such great Shakespearean plays as the "The Tempest", "A Midsummer Nights Dream", "Romeo and Juliet", "Coriolanus", and "Measure for Measure", the Dubrovnik Summer Festival also favors Eshile, Calderon de La Barca, Lope de Vega, Moliere, Goldoni, Goethe, Marlowe, Schaffer, and Stoppard.