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The theatre is built in neo-renaissance style, decorated with incredible paintings and sculptures. This building is the embodiment of the will of the Czech nation for national independence. It offers three different genres of art: opera, ballet and plays. On its repertoire there are about 60 performances. The Operas are mainly classical. The most popular are: Dvorak's operas- Jaccobin, Rusalka, Verdi's Rigolleto, Aida or La Traviata, Smetana's compositions and many, many more. Ballets include - Mowghli by Svoboda, Romeo and Julia by Prokofjev, Carmen, Cinderella, Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky etc.
The theatre was founded in 1881, after hard work collecting the necessary funding needed for building such a huge theatre. The theatre was intended to be a symbol of The Czech nation's independence and language. In the same year the theatre was destroyed by fire and after two years of expensive reconstruction made by arch. J.Schulz with help of M. Ales, A. Wagner and others it was reopened on the 18th November 1883 with a premiere of Libuse by B. Smetana, a piece specially composed for this gala occasion. The theatre, perfectly technically equipped (electric lighting, steel stage constrution) ran without much alteration for almost a hundred years, but on 1st April 1977 the curtain fell on a performance of Alois Jirásek's "The Lantern" to close the theatre for six years. Reconstruction commenced under the supervision of chief designer, architekt Zdeněk Vávra. The extensive rebuilding and completion of the theatre's surroundings had to be finished by 18th November 1983 - the hundredth anniversary of the original opening. On this day the historic building was reopened to the public, again with a performance of Smetana's "Libuše". At present this historic, important and beautiful building, together with its adjoining modern building is the main stage for three leading National Theatre companies - the drama, opera and ballet companies. Location : Narodni trida 2, Nove Mesto (metro Narodni Trida). Tickets range from 310CZK to 930CZK
www.narodni-divadlo.cz |
