Marking the 40th anniversary of Dr. Marko Fotez, one of the founders of Croatia's biggest and most prestigious festivals, executives of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival laid a wreath on the Lovrjenac Fort steps, named after this theatre giant.

The Croatian theatre director, historian, writer and translator Dr. Marko Fotez was born in Zagreb, on 21 January 1915, and died in Belgrade on 2 December 1976. From the year of the Festival's foundation, 1950, Fotez supported with great enthusiasm the continuity of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival and its establishment as an independent theatrical institution. Assured that the architecture of Dubrovnik should not merely be used as an attractive frame, but that its Renaissance and Baroque architecture and its historical and cultural past should serve as inspiration and starting point for theatrical vision, he introduced the site-specific approach as the Festival's key determinant, which was a pioneering accomplishment in Europe. From the very beginning, Fotez insisted on including the works belonging to both Dubrovnik and European literary heritage in the Festival's repertoire. Often disputed because of this, Fotez based his adaptations and directions on his belief that the characters and plots should be brought closer to the average contemporary theatregoers. A true visionary, he saw Fort Lovrjenac as an ideal venue for Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and staged Hamlet there in 1952. After that, the Dubrovnik Summer Festival was recognised within the European context.