The Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb (), commonly referred to as (), is a theatre, opera and ballet house located in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

Overview

The theatre evolved out of the first city theatre opened in 1834, housed in the present-day

Old City Hall Old City Hall may refer to: Asia In Hong Kong * Old City Hall (Hong Kong) Europe In Croatia * Old City Hall (Zagreb) In Denmark * Old City Hall (1479–1728), in Copenhagen * Old City Hall (1728–1795), in Copenhagen * Old City Hall (Aalborg ...

. The theatre was first established as the Croatian National Theatre in 1860, and in 1861 it gained government support, putting it on par with many other European national theatres. In 1870 an opera company was added to the theatre, and in 1895 it moved to the new purpose-built building on

Republic of Croatia Square Republic of Croatia Square () is one of the biggest squares in Zagreb, Croatia. The square is located in Donji grad (Zagreb), Lower Town, with the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, Croatian National Theatre building at its centre. It i ...

in Zagreb's

Lower Town Lower Town (also spelled "Lowertown" () is a neighbourhood in Rideau-Vanier Ward in central Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, to the east of downtown. It is the oldest neighbourhood of the city, with construction beginning in 1826. It includes the comm ...

, where it is based today. Austro-Hungarian emperor

Franz Joseph I Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the Grand title of the emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death ...

was at the unveiling of this new building during his visit to the city in 1895. The building itself was the project of famed Viennese architects

Ferdinand Fellner Ferdinand Fellner (19 April 1847 – 22 March 1916) was an Austrian architect. Biography Fellner joined his ailing father's architecture firm at the age of nineteen. After his father's death he founded the architecture studio Fellner & Helmer ...

and Herman Helmer, whose firm had built several theatres in Vienna. Celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the building were held on October 14, 1995. At the entrance of the theatre is located the wall fountain Well of Life (sculpture) (''Zdenac Života''), designed by Croatian artist and sculptor

Ivan Meštrović Ivan Meštrović (; 15 August 1883 – 16 January 1962) was a Croatian and Yugoslav sculptor, architect, and writer. He was the most prominent modern Croatian sculptor and a leading artistic personality in contemporary Zagreb. He studied at Pa ...

in 1905. Many of Croatia's leading artists have worked at the theatre. Its first

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. Ben Jonson coined the term "playwri ...

was the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

– Croatian poet

Dimitrija Demeter Dimitrios Dimitriou (, sometimes spelled Dimitrija Demeter or Dimitrije Demeter; 21 July 1811 – 24 June 1872) was a Greek-Croatian poet, dramatist, short story writer and literary critic. One of the most learned people of his time, he play ...

, a leading activist of the

Croatian national revival The Illyrian movement (; ) was a pan-South-Slavic cultural and political campaign with roots in the early modern period, and revived by a group of young Croatian intellectuals during the first half of the 19th century, around the years of 1835 t ...

movement, with

Ivan Zajc Ivan von Zajc (also , ; ; August 3, 1832 – December 16, 1914), was a Croatian composer, conductor, director, and teacher who dominated Croatia's musical culture for over forty years. Through his artistic and institutional reform efforts, he ...

as first conductor.

Jakov Gotovac Jakov Gotovac (; October 11, 1895October 16, 1982) was a Croatian composer and conductor of classical music. His comedic opera, '' Ero s onoga svijeta'' (''Ero the Joker''), Croatia's best-known opera, was first performed in Zagreb in 1935. ...

was the theatre's opera conductor from 1923 to 1958. The famous Croatian theatre director

Branko Gavella Branko Gavella (29 July 1885 – 8 April 1962) was a Croatian theatre director, critic and essayist. Biography Born in Zagreb, Croatia (which was at the time part of Austria-Hungary) Gavella finished high school in his hometown before enrolling a ...

began his career here, as did the first Croatian

prima ballerina A ballet dancer is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. Ballet dancers ...

Mia Čorak Slavenska Mia Slavenska, née Čorak (20 February 1916 – 5 October 2002) was a Croatian-American soloist of the Russian Ballet of Monte Carlo in 1938–1952 and 1954–1955. Biography Mia was born in Slavonski Brod in the Croatian family of the pharmac ...

. A notable comic opera, ''

Ero s onoga svijeta ''Ero s onoga svijeta'' (usually translated as ''Ero the Joker'', literally ''Ero from the other world'') is a Croatian comic opera in three acts by Jakov Gotovac, with a libretto by Milan Begović based on a folk tale. The genesis of the opera w ...

'', premiered in this theatre in 1935. The theatre has also seen many international artists including

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including by Alexandre Dumas fils, ...

Franz Lehár Franz Lehár ( ; ; 30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas, of which the most successful and best known is '' The Merry Widow'' (''Die lustige Witwe''). Life and career L ...

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

Gérard Philipe Gérard Philipe () (born Gérard Albert Philip, 4 December 1922 – 25 November 1959) was a prominent French actor who appeared in 32 films between 1944 and 1959. He came to prominence during the later period of the poetic realism movement o ...

Vivien Leigh Vivien Leigh ( ; born Vivian Mary Hartley; 5 November 1913 – 8 July 1967), styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. After completing her drama school education, Leigh appeared in small roles in four films in 1935 and progress ...

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...

Jean-Louis Barrault Jean-Louis Bernard Barrault (; 8 September 1910 – 22 January 1994) was a French actor, director and mime artist who worked on both screen and stage. Biography Barrault was born in Le Vésinet in France in 1910. His father was 'a Burgundi ...

Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Shak ...

, Mario Del Monaco,

José Carreras Josep Maria Carreras Coll (; born 5 December 1946), better known as José Carreras (, ), is a Catalan operatic tenor from Spain who is particularly known for his performances in the operas of Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini. Born in Barcelona, ...

. There are also Croatian National Theatres in

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

Varaždin Varaždin ( or ; , also known by #Name, alternative names) is a city in Northern Croatia, north-east of Zagreb. The total population is 46,946, with 38,839 in the city settlement itself (2011). The city is best known for its baroque buildings, ...

and

Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...

. Due to the ongoing

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

the Croatian National Theater in Zagreb decided, in collaboration with the daily newspaper ''

24sata ''24 sata'' (meaning "24 hours" in Croatian) is the name of two daily newspapers (both of which spell their names ''24sata''): * ''24sata'' (Croatia), Croatian daily tabloid owned by the Austrian Styria group * ''24 sata'' (Serbia), Serbian f ...

'', to allow citizens access quality cultural content through a

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel, which will feature daily performances from the branches of

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

and

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

Gallery

Teatro Nacional, Zagreb, Croacia, 2014-04-20, DD 01.JPG, West view of the theater File:Croatian National Theater, Zagreb 02.jpg, Statues at the top of the building File:LEGO HNK Zagreb.JPG, A

Lego Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...

model of the theater File:Izgradnja-hnk-2.jpg, The theater during its construction in 1894 File:Building of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb.jpg, The theater at night File:Croatian National Theater, Zagreb 04.jpg, Column detail File:Croatian National Theater, Zagreb 05.jpg,

Cupid In classical mythology, Cupid ( , meaning "passionate desire") is the god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus and the god of war Mars. He is also known as Amor (Latin: ...

statue File:Pope Benedict XVI HNK 1 04062011.JPG,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

leaving the theater in 2011 File:Zagreb 32 (4684668549).jpg, HNK from the distance File:Interior of Croatian National Theater, Zagreb 09.jpg, Details of the ceiling

References

External links

* {{authority control Theatres in Zagreb Donji grad, Zagreb National theatres Opera houses in Croatia 1860 establishments in Croatia Music venues completed in 1895 Theatres completed in 1895 1895 establishments in Croatia Fellner & Helmer buildings Neoclassical architecture in Croatia

Overview

Gallery

See also

References

External links