The historical building of the National Theatre, constructed in 1883, is generally considered the prime stage in the Czech Republic. It is the flagship of the National Theatre institution, today amounting to four buildings and encompassing four companies. You can see there Opera, Drama and Ballet performances.

The National Theatre is the embodiment of the will of the Czech nation for a national identity and independence. Collections of money among the broad mass of the people facilitated its construction and hence the ceremonial laying of its foundation stone on 16 May 1868 was tantamount a nationwide political manifestation.

The idea of building a stately edifice to serve as a theatre was first mooted in the autumn of 1844 at meetings of patriots in Prague. It began to materialise through a request for “the privilege of constructing, furnishing, maintaining and managing” an independent Czech theatre, which was submitted to the Provincial Committee of the Czech Assembly by František Palacký on 29 January 1845. The privilege was granted in April 1845. Yet it was not until six years later – in April 1851 – that the Society for the Establishment of a Czech National Theatre in Prague (founded in the meantime) made its first public appeal to start collections. A year later the proceeds of the first collections allowed for the purchase of land belonging to a former salt works with the area of less than 28 acres, which predetermined the magnificent location of the theatre on the bank of the river Vltava facing the panorama of Prague Castle, yet at the same time the cramped area and trapezoidal shape posed challenging problems for the building’s designers.

The era of Bach’s absolutism brought to a halt preparations for the construction and gave rise to the concept of a modest provisional building, which was duly erected on the south side of the land according to the plans of the architect Ignac Ullmann and opened on 18 November 1862. The Provisional Theatre building subsequently became a constituent part of the final version of the National Theatre – its external cladding is still visible in the elevated section of the rear part of the building and the interior layout was only effaced during the latest reconstruction of the National Theatre (between 1977 and 1983).

Concurrently with the implementation of this minimal programme asserted by F. L. Rieger and the Provincial Committee, the young progressive advocates of the original ambitious concept of the building (Sladkovský, Tyrš, Neruda, Hálek) went on the offensive. In 1865 they attained leading positions in the Society and asked a 33-year-old professor of civil engineering at the Prague Technical College, the architect Josef Zítek, to draft a design for the National Theatre. He then won a later-invited tender and in 1867 construction works began. On 16 May 1868 the foundation stones were laid, and by November the foundations themselves were complete. In 1875 the new building reached its full height and in 1877 the theatre was roofed over. From 1873 there were ongoing competitions for the interior decoration of the building, whose scenario had been elaborated by a special commission headed by Sladkovský: the themes were, on the one hand, classical, in the spirit of the Neo Renaissance concept, while on the other they were inspired by the contemporary enthusiasm for Slavonic mythology and the stories of the Manuscripts – both these concepts, based on Mánes-style painting and connected with contemporary Romantic landscape painting (also thematically linked to Czech history), provided the fundamental conceptual base for the artistic expression which today is designated as the art of the National Theatre Generation.

The National Theatre opened on 11 June 1881 to honour the visit of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria. It staged another 11 performances before the building was closed down to enable the completion of the finishing touches. While the work was under way, a fire broke out on 12 August 1881 which destroyed the copper dome, the auditorium and stage of the theatre. The fire was considered a national disaster and induced an immense resolve for new collections: within 47 days a million gulden had been collected. This national enthusiasm, however, was in marked contrast to the behind-the-scenes battles that raged following the catastrophe. The architect Josef Zítek was pushed aside and his pupil Josef Schulz was summoned to work on the reconstruction. He was the one to insist on the extension of the building to include a lodging house owned by Dr Polák that was situated behind the building of the Provisional Theatre. He made this building a part of the National Theatre and also changed the layout of the auditorium somewhat in order to improve visibility. He respected with the utmost sensitivity the style of Zítek’s building and managed to merge three buildings by different architects to form an absolute unity of style.

The National Theatre was inaugurated on 18 November 1883 with a performance of Smetana’s festive opera Libuše, specially composed for this occasion. The building, in technical terms perfectly equipped (electric lighting, a steel stage structure), served without any major modifications for almost one hundred years. It was only on 1 April 1977, following a performance of Jirásek’s Lantern, that the theatre was closed down for six years. The architect Zdeněk Vávra was appointed to take charge of the overall reconstruction. This extensive redevelopment, combined with finishing works on the entire surroundings of the theatre, was completed to meet a binding deadline, the date marking the 100th anniversary of the opening of the National Theatre: 18 November 1983. On that day the historical building opened again to the public with a performance of Smetana’s Libuše. At the present time, this beautiful and historically extremely important building, together with the modern operational building, which also includes the main box office, is the main stage of the three artistic ensembles of the National Theatre: the Drama, Opera and Ballet.