Janáček Theatre ( cs, Janáčkovo divadlo) is an opera house in the city of Brno,

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. It is the largest of the three theatres serving the National Theatre Brno ("NdB") opera and ballet company, the others being the Mahen and the Reduta. It was built starting in 1960 after decades of delay and finally opened in October 1965, since when it has premiered some twenty operas and ballets. A major renovation was completed in 2018. The building's façade is north-facing, away from the city center and towards the nearby house of its namesake composer, who is grandly memorialized on the adjacent landscaped green.

History

The building of Janáček Theatre, the youngest of the buildings of National Theatre in Brno, was planned from the early 20th century. From 1910 to 1957, seven

architectural competition An architectural design competition is a type of design competition in which an organization that intends on constructing a new building invites architects to submit design proposals. The winning design is usually chosen by an independent panel ...

s were held to find the best design and project of the building. Around 150 architects participated in the competitions, among them several notable exponents of Czech arts and architecture: Bohuslav Fuchs,

Josef Gočár Josef Gočár (13 March 1880 in Semín – 10 September 1945 in Jičín) was a Czech architect. It was one of the founders of modern architecture in Czech Republic. Life Josef Gočár received his early instruction at the State Technical School ...

Vlastislav Hofman Vlastislav Hofman (6 February 1884 – 28 August 1964) was an artist and architect who lived and worked first in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and later in Czechoslovakia. Though he was a painter, set designer, graphic artist, furniture designe ...

, Josef Chochol,

Pavel Janák Pavel Janák (12 March 1881 in Karlín – 1 August 1956 in Prague-Dejvice) was a Czech modernist architect, furniture designer, town planner, professor and theoretician. Life Janák studied with Otto Wagner in Vienna between 1906 and 1908, and ...

Jan Kotěra Jan Kotěra (18 December 1871 – 17 April 1923) was a Czech architect, artist and interior designer, and one of the key figures of modern architecture in Bohemia. Biography Kotěra was born in Brno, the largest city in Moravia, to a Czech fathe ...

and others. The proposed designs span a wide range of architectural styles documenting the history and development of the Czech architecture in the first half of the 20th century. The styles include

historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely ...

, Art Nouveau, Cubism,

modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

, Functionalism,

Socialist realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is c ...

, and classicising Neofunctionalism.

References

Theatres in Brno Opera houses in the Czech Republic Theatres completed in 1965 Music venues completed in 1965 {{Europe-theat-struct-stub