Croatian National Theatre

About the institution:

After almost a hundred years of efforts, it is in Mostar September 22, 1994,�by decision Governments�Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna,�grounded Croatian National Theatre, then, as now, the only professional theater of the Croatian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Croats of Mostar and Herzegovina are through the association Brotherhood of Saint Anthony�and together with the singing Catholic society Hrvoje�In 1896, they started building their first a building for theater performances, singing and balls. The building was designed by ing. Miloš Komadina, and its construction, which was financed by voluntary contributions, was completed in 1897. Unfortunately, the Austro-Hungarian government at the time did not allow the "Home for Social Purposes", as they called it, to be officially named "Croatian Theatre" for political reasons. From then until 1994, various authorities and regimes prohibited and contested the right of the Croatian people in BiH to dance and sing in their own language and under their own name.

Due to a combination of historical, social and political circumstances, Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for the first time in their recent history, had the opportunity to independently decide on what they considered essential for their own identity and survival in the early nineties of the last century. The institutional foundation of the Croatian National Theater in Mostar is certainly one of the most valuable and significant achievements of the mentioned period. It is known and proven that a nation without an institutionalized national culture cannot be a constituent or state-forming nation.

In the war years of the 1990s, people played to live and lived to play. Playing did not stop, giving up was not taken into account, only the most suitable stage and institutional framework was sought. For a short time, that framework was called the National Theater until, in cooperation with the Government of the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna, i.e. its Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, a decision was made to establish the Croatian National Theater in Mostar.

After the institution was founded, the next fateful step was the beginning of the construction of the HNK building.

After the completion of the decoration of the Small Stage in 2002 and the move to a new, begun but unfinished building, the ensemble and employees were given more or less normal working conditions, but not long after that, problems with legal status and financing began. With the integration of HRHB into the Federation of BiH and the subsequent transfer of powers from the Government of HRHB to the Government of FBiH, the problem of the legal title of HNK Mostar opened up. For a time, the founding rights belonged to the Croatian community of Herceg-Bosna, but the unsustainability of such a situation soon became apparent.

From 2009 until 2013, HNK Mostar was in a kind of legal and financial vacuum, and in those years it was effectively without a founder and regular financial resources.

In April 2013, it was agreed in principle that the City of Mostar and the Assembly of the Herzegovina-Neretva County/Canton would each take over 50 % founding rights. During the operationalization of the aforementioned agreement, certain parties did not want to accept it, that is, they conditioned their consent to take over founding rights from HNŽ/K by deleting the name "Croatian" from the name of the theater. Although the Croats are a constitutive nation according to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which implies not only cultural but also a certain political autonomy and self-government, policies and forces that challenged the Croatian people were once again at work. the right to dance and sing in his own language and under his own name.

We sincerely and deeply hope that the time of such policies is behind us and that all objective and well-intentioned social and political actors have meanwhile become clear that HNK is not only a Croatian but also a Mostar and Bosnia-Herzegovina theater that actively participates in the integration processes of both the City of Mostar and Bosnia-Herzegovina. society as a whole. And not only does it participate in the mentioned processes, but also initiates many.

Immediately after resolving the legal status, cooperation with the Central State Office for Croats outside the Republic of Croatia began. HNK received funds for the preparation of the documentation necessary for the continuation of the construction of the theater building.

First, in 2014, a Study on the justification of the continuation of the building of the Croatian National Theater in Mostar was carried out. Within the framework of the Study, four models of the continuation of construction were offered: 1) the old project of the architect Vjenceslav Lončarić, 2) economic model, 3) theater model and 4) cultural center model.

On this occasion, the Administrative Council of HNK Mostar appointed the Commission for the selection of the construction completion model, which accepted the extended Model 4, the so-called cultural-academic model. The accepted model provided that, in addition to the Croatian Academy of Sciences, the building would house other institutions of importance for Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina: the Croatian Academy of Science and Art (HAZU) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Mostar Symphony Orchestra and Matica hrvatska Mostar, but also that within the building spatial and technical prerequisites for the work of the future Art Academy, that is, two new university studies: music and drama. This would create assumptions that the Croatian National Theater, in cooperation with the Symphony Orchestra and teachers and students of music and drama studies, in the near future can become a truly national theater that, in addition to drama, also has opera and ballet productions. For all this, a large hall is needed, which with its architectural solutions should enable polyfunctionality and satisfy all spatial and technical conditions for the performance of drama, opera and ballet performances, as well as concerts of classical and related music. In order to achieve the greatest possible utilization of capacity, the hall should be equipped for festive and work conference events as well as cinema screenings.

In addition to the mentioned institutions and artistic, cultural and educational facilities, the building should also have parts that have a market purpose - a city cafe, a sound studio, a dance studio, a garage - which should provide income to cover part of the costs of using and maintaining the building.

After the adoption of the Decision on the model for the continuation of construction, the creation of a new conceptual solution followed, followed by the Main and executive design of the HNK Mostar building. The creation of all projects was financed by the Central State Office for Croats outside the Republic of Croatia.