Croatian National Theatre — Attraction in City of Zagreb

I love this theater and would like to rate it with five stars but the process of getting a ticket for a performance was just too cumbersome. I was visiting with my brother and a performance of Peer Gynt was there on the day we arrived. I tried to purchase tickets online but the website would allow me to do so as it requires a Croatian bankcard. I emailed the box office and they said they'd hold two tickets for me at the box office but three days prior I'd have to confirm that I wanted to attend. I did this and don't regret it. The performance was excellent and a great way of experiencing the culture of Croatia. The building is beautiful and of significant historical value. On the day I arrived I went to the box office at the time when the email from the box office said they'd be open. It was closed. I walked over and got lunch and came back when the sign said it would be open and there was no one in the office. I called out and someone came from the back and said the system was down and I'd need to come back in two hours. I told them I was there to pick up tickets for that nights performance and insisted on getting the tickets. All of a sudden the system was able to give me the tickets and accept my payment. The tickets they held for me were the worst in the house. To say the least I was very disappointed as I had contact the box office four months prior to my visit and they should that seats were available all over the theater. I even mentioned in the email the seats I was trying to reserve. But instead of saving those seats for me, they held the two worst seats...

I've been on the play Actress. The play was good but a little bit depressive. I have a subscription and today was the first play in the season. It was the modern ballet Decadence. I liked it very much, it was interesting and performance was very good. Today I've been on the opera Traviata. Performance was great. Singers in the leading roles: Marija Kuhar Šoša, Filip Filipović and Ljubomir Puškarić were brilliant. The choir, the dancers and orchestra with it's conductor were also very good. Today I watched an famous Croatian opera. It was Jakov Gotovac’s opera Ero the Joker. Singers in the leading roles and chorus as well as the orchestra with it's conductor were very good. The ballet finale of the opera was brilliant. Today I watched an famous opera. It was Verdi's opera Nabucco. The theatre was completely full. The ensemble of the performance and conductor Pier Giorgio Morandi as well as the orchestra and the chorus of the Croatian National Theatre were very very good. Set and costume designs were unusual but good. Today I watched an modern drama Adventurer at the door by Milan Begović. I don't like it very much. The actors were very good but I don't like the plot. Today I attended Verdi's opera Traviata. Performance was great. Daria Auguštan as Violetta was excellent. Filip Filipović and Ljubomir Puškarić in the other two leading roles were also very good. The choir, the dancers and the orchestra with it's conductor were also very good as scene and costume...

The Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, commonly referred to as HNK Zagreb, is a theatre, opera and ballet house.

The theatre was first established as the Croatian National Theatre in 1860, and in 1861 it gained government support putting it on par with many other European national theatres. In 1870 an opera company was added to the theatre and in 1895 it moved to the new purpose-built building on Republic of Croatia Square in Zagreb's Lower Town, where it is based today.

Austro-Hungarian emperor Franz Joseph I was at the unveiling of this new building during his visit to the city in 1895. The building itself was the project of famed Viennese architects Ferdinand Fellner and Herman Helmer, whose firm had built several theatres in Vienna. Celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the building were held on October 14, 1995.

At the entrance of the theatre is located the wall fountain The Source of Life (Zdenac života), designed by Croatian artist and sculptor Ivan Meštrović in 1905.

The theatre has also seen many international artists including Franz Liszt, Sarah Bernhardt, Franz Lehár, Richard Strauss, Gérard Philipe, Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Jean-Louis Barrault, Peter Brook, Mario Del Monaco, José Carreras.

There are also Croatian National Theatres in Split, Rijeka, Osijek,...