Changes in the direction of the dominant axis from North-South to East-West reflects changes in the dominant social discourse of the city. The situation shifts from pre-modern to modern; the city of Hvar ceases to be a self-sufficient medieval commune, and becomes part of a larger whole, which emerges owing to the expansion of Venice to Otranto. Changes in the urban stratification are noticeable in the context of changes in the function of a free empty space that used to divide Groda from its suburb Burak. This previously empty space is transformed into a dominant urban axis around which there is a concentration of important social and architectural landmarks. The architectural complex of Hanibal Lucić’s villa and Hvar Public Theater located around the new urban axis becames the expression of a new rhetorical model. The villa and theatre function as a modern thesaurus relevant for a newly created identity of the city. Moreover, they are important for the general concept of the modern space characterized by a geometric perspective, continuity, increasing depth and logical induction.