Abstract

Participants in two competitions for the Czech National Theatre in Prague (1854 and 1866) had to deal with a challenging building programme, especially with the unsuitable building site, which had an acute angle at one corner. Scholarly literature has focused mainly on the executed project by Josef Zítek, whose personality is also surrounded by the myth of the genius architect. By analysing six competing architectural designs, the presented paper argues that although Zítek’s project was the best in terms of the external form of the building, in terms of the solution to the problematic acute corner, most of the other competitors also approached the task with an unusual degree of resourcefulness. Especially Franz Fröhlich, who, even on an unfavourable plot, managed to design a symmetrical building, and Ignác Ullmann, who, against all period architectural opinions, courageously used acute angle instead of hiding it. Thus, the paper argues that most architects approached the corner problem with original solutions and that, therefore their works witness the innovative power and possibilities of the 19^th century architectonical approaches.

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