This grand structure on Obala Kulina bana 9 was built in 1897 and reflects Neo-Renaissance designs with elements of classicism. Architect Karl Paržik based his composition and the details of his creation on the National Theater in Prague.
Social club
Austro-Hungarian authorities had intended for the building to serve as a social club, a place where the ruling elite could gather for parties, and was meant to seat 400 and include a Gentleman’s Club and Technical Club.
The official opening was held on January 2, 1899 with the Croatian National Theater (Zagreb) performing the play, Medea, by Austrian dramatist Franz Grillparzer.
The National Theater was founded as an institution 20 years later, on November 17, 1919, when BiH was part of the Kingdom of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs.
It is interesting to note that the theater’s first production was not put on in Sarajevo, but in Tuzla, at Bristol Hotel. At that time, in November 1920, NPS was undergoing an expansion project. It was then that the north entrance to the building was added and this same entrance, the one on Trg Susan Sontag, is still in use.
The renovated theater reopened in November 1921 with the play, Protekcija, by the famous Serbian dramatist, Branislav Nušić, then Director of the Art Department at the Kingdom’s Ministry of Education. He would later become director of the NPS.
Up until the time after WWII, NPS had been used exclusively as a theater and then it gained its opera and ballet ensembles in 1946.
The opera, The Bartered Bride, by Czech composer Bedrich Smetana, premiered on November 9, 1946 and the production of The Harvest, by Croatian composer Boris Papandopulo, on May 25, 1950, marked the beginning of the Sarajevo Ballet.
Pavarotti and De Niro
The NPS has produced plays by Peter Brook, Giorgio Strehler and Robert Wilson and audiences have attended performances by Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras, Zubin Mehta… at this home of the arts. In more recent years, some of the biggest names in film: Robert De Niro, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich..., have walked the red carpet that is spread out on the plaza in front of the building during the Sarajevo Film Festival.
The National Theater has staged more than 1,000 plays, hundreds of operas and ballet performances and its ensembles have made guest appearances all over the world and have received the most prestigious awards, including three April 6th Awards, the greatest honor bestowed by the City of Sarajevo.
On September 12, 2007, the NPS building was included on the list of protected National Monuments of BiH.
