National Theatre (Budapest)
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Address | Bajor Gizi park 1. |
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Location | Budapest, Hungary |
Coordinates | 47°28′15.89″N 19°4′14.04″E / 47.4710806°N 19.0705667°E |
Type | Theatre, Performing arts center |
Capacity | 619 |
Construction | |
Built | 2002 |
Opened | (1837) 2002 |
Website | |
www |
The National Theatre, located in
History
The concept of a national theatre in Budapest was born at the turn of the 18th-19th century, promoted by influential thinkers including Ferenc Kazinczy and Baron István Széchenyi. Széchenyi was a major figure in Hungary's reform.[1] He dreamed of a great building on the bank of the Danube that would operate in the form of a joint-stock company. He proposed his plans in his 1832 pamphlet, A Magyar Játékszínről.
The
The National Theatre building was demolished in the 1900s. The company moved to the People's Theatre at Blaha Lujza Square in 1908. In the following decades, the company was only a tenant of People's Theatre, and the building's state continually deteriorated. In 1963, authorities decided to demolish it, citing metro line construction as the reasoning.[2] Operation ceased one year later, and the building was demolished on April 23, 1965. The company transferred to the renovated Petőfi Theatre (today is known as Thália), in Nagymező Street. Two years later, it relocated again to the former Magyar Theatre in Hevesi Sándor Square.
After the demolition of the People's Theatre, a proposal was made to build the new theater in the
In 1999, ministry commissioner György Schwajda commissioned Mária Siklós to make plans for a building at a new location Essenza,[3] the bank of the Danube. This decision was met with anger from the Hungarian architect community, and a bid was held. György Vadász's won the bid. He did not modify Siklós's plans further,[4] and construction began with Siklós's plans on September 14, 2000. The new National Theatre opened on March 15, 2002, Hungary's National Day.
The New National Theatre
The new National Theatre is on the bank of the Danube in the Ferencváros district, situated on Soroksári road, Grand Boulevard, and Rákóczi Bridge. It is a five minute walk from the Csepel HÉV (suburban railway). The Memorial of the Old National Theatre is located on the National Theatre grounds.
The theatre is 20,844 square meters (224,362.95 square feet), including an open-air stage. Functionally, it can be separated into three parts:
- The central unit, including the rounded auditorium and studio stage;
- The gangways, public areas, and horseshoe-shaped servicing areas;
- The surrounding park, which contains numerous memorials commemorating the Hungarian drama and film industry.[5]
The nearby
Park
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Gobbi Hilda
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Major Tamás
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Tímár József
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Ruttkai Éva
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Soós Imre
Directors
György Schwajda became the first director of the theater. He signed the "company's core" and founded the title Actor of the Nation with a financial reward. He resigned in the summer of 2002. After his resignation, Thomas Jordan won the bid to become the new director. He organized the public from the countryside and debuted the many counties of Hungary on stage. Jordan stepped down in 2008 and Robert Alföldi took over. Where Jordan advocated support for the nation-rearing, folk theatre, Alföldi opposed its efforts.[citation needed]
In 2013, Attila Vidnyanszky was appointed to lead the National Theater for a ten-year term, which was subsequently extended until 2028. In 2023, he offered to resign after two actors were injured after falling off a balcony during a production of Romeo and Juliet, but his resignation was rejected by culture minister János Csák.[6]
Footnotes
- ^ "The Emergence of a Hungarian Reform Movement in the 'Two Sister Countries' and Its Organization in Transylvania". mek.oszk.hu. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
- ^ "Demolished memories, lost buildings – Budapest". Retrieved 2018-05-01.
- ^ "New quarrels around the National Theatre". Hetek.hu (in Hungarian). 1999-03-06. Retrieved 2009-10-11.
- ^ "György Vadász will likely quit from designing the National Theatre". Origo (in Hungarian). 2000-07-03. Retrieved 2009-10-11.
- ^ "About the theatre | Nemzeti Színház". nemzetiszinhaz.hu. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
- ^ "Hungary theatre chief offers to quit after Romeo and Juliet accident". BBC. 13 November 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
References
- National Theatre in the Hungarian Theatrical Lexicon (György, Székely. Magyar Színházművészeti Lexikon. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1994. (hu)
- László, Kósa. A cultural history of Hungary. Budapest: Osiris Kiadó, 1998. ISBN 978-963-13-4836-1
- Nemzetiszinhaz.hu article - A brief article at the building, the garden, and a historical overview the on the official homepage (en)
- Sulinet.hu article - An article on the history of the building on Sulinet.hu (hu)
- Index.hu article - An article detailing the demolition of the People's Theatre in 1965 (hu)
- szinhaz.hu article - - An article on the history of the National Theatre before 2002 (hu)
- magyarnarancs.hu article - An article on the history of the National Theatre between 2002-2012 (hu)
External links
- Official home page of the National Theatre (en)
- Anniversaries – Self-Portraits - The National Theatre National Relic Exhibition Hall, February 1, 2008 – March 18, 2008 (en)
- Music and Musical Genres on the Pre-Erkel Hungarian Stage (.rtf) (en)
- Csatolna.hu gallery - A gallery of images of the new National Theatre
- Aerila photographs of the Theatre