Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
tionstones,gatheredfromvarioushistoricallysignificantsitesinBohemiaandMoravia(plus
one sent by expats in America), were laid in 1868 by the historian and politician František
PalackýandthecomposerBedřichSmetana;thearchitect,JosefZítek,spentthenextthirteen
years on the project. In June 1881, the theatre opened with a premiere of Smetana's opera
Libuše
, but in August of the same year, fire destroyed everything except the outer walls.
Withintwoyearsthewholethingwasrebuilt-eventheemperorcontributedthistime-under
the supervision of Josef Schulz, and it opened once again to the strains of
Libuše
. The grand
portal on the north side of the theatre is embellished with suitably triumphant allegorical fig-
ures, and, inside, every square centimetre is taken up with paintings and sculptures by lead-
ingartistsoftheCzechnationalrevival.Havingremainedvirtuallyuntouchedforwellovera
century,atthetimeofwritingthebuildingwas,somewhatalarmingly,undergoingrenovation
work and was set to remain closed for several years.
Nová scéna
Národní třída 4 • 224 931 482,
novascena.cz
• Tram #6, #9, #17, #18 or #22 to Národní divadlo
StandingbehindtheNárodnídivadlo,andindramaticcontrastwithit,isthetheatre'smodern
extension,theglasscubeofthe1983
Nováscéna
,designedbyKarelPrager,theleading(and
now much reviled) architect of the Communist era. It's one of those buildings most Praguers
lovetohate-itwasdescribedbyoneCzechaslookinglike“frozenpiss”-thoughcompared
to much of Prague's Communist-era architecture, it's not that bad. It's home to the Laterna
Magika, a multimedia theatre company that combines live actors, film and sound in often
quite impressive avant-garde performances. Miloš Forman, Jiří Trnka, Jan Švankmajer and
several other big hitters of the Czech cultural scene were involved with the Laterna Magika
at some point in their careers.
Café Slavia
Tram #6, #9, #17, #18 or #22 to Národní divadlo
Opposite the National Theatre,
Café Slavia
has been a favourite haunt of the city's writers,
dissidents and artists (and, inevitably, actors) since the days of the First Republic. The Czech
avant-garde movement, Devětsil, led by Karel Teige, used to hold its meetings here in the
1920s; the meetings are recorded for posterity by another of its members, the Nobel prize-
winner Jaroslav Seifert, in his
Slavia Poems
. The café has been carelessly modernized since
thosearcadiandays,butitstillhasagreatriversideviewandViktorOliva's
Absinthe Drinker
canvas on the wall.
