Roman Theatre expands to 804 seats, but return to 1,200-seat capacity still uncertain
Sagunto's Roman Theatre will host 804 spectators per show this summer — up from 608 in the past two years — after €165,000 of safety works funded by the IVC.
Visitors to this summer's Sagunt a Escena festival will find 196 extra seats inside the Roman Theatre. Safety improvements — access routes, staircases, handrails, safety nets and bathrooms — plus an imminent repair of water infiltrations in the upper section of the building allowed Emergency Services to raise the authorised capacity to 804 places. The Institut Valencià de Cultura (IVC — the regional arts body) allocated €165,000 for these works.
Yet returning to the pre-2024 figure of around 1,200 seats looks unlikely soon. The deputy director of Performing Arts at the IVC, María José Mora, explained that current evacuation regulations require corridor widths and exit configurations incompatible with preserving the ancient monument. Mayor Darío Moreno called for a joint roadmap between the three administrations sharing responsibility: the building belongs to the national Ministry of Culture, management sits with the Valencian Government, and the surrounding land is under the City Council's control. This three-way split is rooted in decades of institutional dispute — a 1990s refurbishment was ruled illegal by the courts in rulings between 2000 and 2008 — making large-scale investment difficult to plan. Source: Valencia Plaza.