opposition. Its builder proved himself worthy of the national confidence, and achieved a striking artistic success.
This “Temple of the Renaissance,” at once a triumph of the Renaissance style and the monument of a nation re-born, clearly betokened that the first stage in the struggle of the Czechs for an independent culture was over. It was also a beacon whose steady light was to pierce the national gloom and give promise of the final victory. Thus the National Theatre has always served as a centre for national festivals and demonstrations, as a place for the reception of friendly guests and, during the World War, as a refuge where a nation in mourning could draw comfort and consolation. At the first glance we realize that here is a building worthy to rank with the finest that adorn any European capital and, as a theatre, one of the best-constructed in existence. Zítek’s main idea was a central block, a single cube, and to this highly daring idea he has sacrificed even the external separation of the stage from the auditorium, so rigorously demanded by Semper’s principles. Zítek aimed at a single, unbroken mass, powerfully enclosed by pylons and crowned with a dome-shaped roof, a stately monument such as the nation desired. We cannot but admire the way in which he even turns to good account the irregularity of the site, the difficult position at the intersection of a street and an embankment, succeeds in setting upon the whole mass a stamp of movement and dominance, and provides the edifice with three façades corresponding to the three aspects of the surrounding streets; a diversity that actually adds to the magnificence of the whole. His work shows throughout a firm adherence to principles, the decorative being harmoniously adjusted to the purely architectural elements, and his ornamentation is carried out with remarkable tact and good sense. The free plastic decoration in the niches of the façades, the attic and the pylons, also bears witness to the logic of the architect’s
