National Theatre of Republika Srpska
Banja Luka's national theatre of 1930, in a 1934 Bauhaus-influenced house with drama and orchestra.
The company was founded on 2 September 1930 as the National Theatre of the Vrbas Banovina and moved into its own building on 12 November 1934, when the house opened as the Home of King Peter I. The design by the engineer Josip Goldner combines Bauhaus massing with residual neoclassical detail, and the block fronts two streets near the city park. A first substantial reconstruction followed in 1959 to plans by Vladimir Dobrovic, improving the stage machinery and remodelling the auditorium.
Renamed several times as the state around it changed, the theatre has been the National Theatre of Republika Srpska since the 1990s. It plays on a main stage and the smaller Petar Kocic stage, and maintains a drama ensemble alongside its own symphony orchestra, which gives concerts through the season. The building was listed as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2012. The repertoire mixes classic drama, regional contemporary writing and orchestral programmes.
Highlights
- Company founded in 1930, among the oldest in the region
- Purpose-built 1934 house by the engineer Josip Goldner, listed as a national monument
- Two stages: the main auditorium and the smaller Petar Kocic stage
- Resident symphony orchestra performing its own concert season
