The current home of the State Theatre of Košice dates from 1899. The Neo-Baroque historical building is one of the finest works of Adolf Lang, the architect working in Budapest and Vienna, and it is one of the most beautiful theatres in Europe. This Neo-Baroque block building with elements of eclecticism and Art Nouveau is located in the northern part of the lentil-shaped square in the middle of the historical centre, in a place of the former City Hall and the classical theatre which was built there after the City Hall. The impressive three-storey entrance risalit is emphasised by two stairway towers and impressive roofing finished with the relief of Aurora with the torch in her hand from Ede Mayer.
The interior space with rich ornamentation is dominated by the auditorium with afalling floor. It has four levels of balconies and loges, whose parapets are decorated with gilded stucco ornaments and characters of angels and muses. The monumental space is completed with a shaped surface of the ceiling, hung at the height of 16 m. It is decorated with four cartouches, in which the Viennese painter Peregrin von Gastgeb displayed motifs thematically related to the theatre. They represent scenes from Shakespeare’s tragedies Othello, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Photos (www.culturalheritage.sk)
Heritage > National cultural monuments
