The New Stage of the National Theatre

The New Stage of the National Theatre occupies the gap created by the demolition of the Choura houses, which were in a desolate state in the 1950s. In the initial design by Bohuslav Fuchs, who unfortunately passed away shortly after its completion, and the project was taken over by Pavel Kupka, a cultural palace serving the city was supposed to be built in this location. However, when Prague gained access to the Palace of Culture in Vyšehrad, the original plan was abandoned. Meanwhile, construction had already begun in the gap, and the project had to be completely reworked on the fly to accommodate the needs of the National Theatre. Karel Prager was the only one who could accept this grand challenge with all its conditions, including the limited time frame for opening the New Stage on the 100th anniversary of the reopening of the National Theatre. Prager supplemented and systematically modified the original steel structure from Fuchs’ design to create a theater hall. The interior and exterior are artistically conceived, making the building a large architectural sculpture. The façade is made up of hand-blown glass panels according to the design by Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová. Although it may not seem so, it was necessary to design and produce over 120 different modifications of glass molds.