Croatian National Theatre in Varaždin
Hermann Helmer's first theatre, built in 1873 beside the park and still the city's drama house.
The Varaždin theatre was built in 1873 to designs by the young Hamburg-born architect Hermann Helmer, and it was his first independent theatre commission. He went on to found the Vienna practice of Fellner und Helmer with Ferdinand Fellner, which built some fifty theatres across central Europe, including those in Rijeka and Zagreb. The Varaždin house is a compact historicist building with a main auditorium of stalls, boxes at mezzanine and first-floor level and a balcony, set at the edge of the city park near the Old Town.
Theatre in Varaždin is considerably older than the building: amateur and touring performances are recorded from the eighteenth century, and the city was for a time the administrative centre of Croatia. The present company is a repertory drama theatre and also presents concerts and guest productions, using the main stage, a large concert hall and the smaller Veček stage. It runs a youth theatre studio and tours regularly to other Croatian theatres and abroad.
Highlights
- Hermann Helmer's first theatre building, completed in 1873
- Historicist auditorium with mezzanine and first-floor boxes
- Main stage, concert hall and the smaller Veček stage
- Repertory drama company with a youth theatre studio
