Teatrul Naţional
The National Theatre
The theatrical movement
in Bucharest is older than the building of the
National Theatre that dates back to the reign of
King Ioan Caragea (1818-1821). The construction of
the Theatre was only decided during the reign of
Gheorghe Bibescu (1842-1848) and the works were
entrusted to the Viennese architect Anton Heft,
assisted by Karl Hartl and I. Melik. Muhldorfer did
the decoration. The building was intended as a
reproduction of the Scala Theatre in Milan.
The 1848
revolution impeded the realization of the project.
The works will be resumed during the reign of Barbu
Stirbey (1849-1856) who will ask for the drafts to
be modified in order to obtain a more spacious
interior. The modifications and the construction of
the annexes were entrusted to Cassien Bernard. The
building will be inaugurated on the 31st
of December 1852, the king attending to the first
representation. In 1884 , the gas company puts a
power station in the National Theatre (one of the
first institutions of this kind with electrical
lightening in the world).
In 1894 the building of
the theatre will be extended, more annex bodies
built in accordance with the architect Ion N.
Socolescu’s plans, being added.
The building maintained
its structure until the second half of the XX
century. Only the carriages driven by the Russian
cabmen were replaced, in 1912, by taxicabs (the
first ones were painted in green and had a red
hood). The 1944 German air raids damaged the
building so seriously that in 1945 it was decided to
be demolished. Moreover, the goods of the theatre
were requisitioned by the Soviet troops as payment
for war repairs. In 1967 the works to a new
residence started, close to the University Square.
The new theatre, with four auditoriums, was
inaugurated in 1973.
