Venue: National Theatre Bucharest
Address: Bulevardul Nicolae Bălcescu 2, 010051 Bucureşti
Town: Bucharest, RO
Capacity: 2,880

The National Theatre Bucharest (Romanian: Teatrul Naţional "Ion Luca Caragiale" București) is one of the national theatres of Romania, located in the capital city of Bucharest. It was founded as the Teatrul cel Mare din București ("Grand Theatre of Bucharest") in 1852, its first director being Costache Caragiale. It became a national institution in 1864 by a decree of Prime Minister Mihail Kogălniceanu, and was officially named as the National Theatre in 1875; it is now administered by the Romanian Ministry of Culture. In April 1836, the Societatea Filarmonica - a cultural society founded by Ion Heliade Rădulescu and Ion Câmpineanu - bought the Câmpinencii Inn to build a National Theatre on the site, and began to collect money and materials for this purpose. In 1840, Obşteasca Adunare (the legislative branch established under the terms of the Imperial Russian-approved Organic Statute) proposed to Alexandru II Ghica, the Prince of Wallachia, a project to build a National Theatre with state support. The request was approved on June 4, 1840. Prince Gheorghe Bibescu adopted the idea of founding the theatre and chose a new location, on the spot of the former Filaret Inn. There were several reasons to favor this location: it was centrally located, right in the middle of Podul Mogoşoaiei (today's Calea Victoriei); the earthquake of 1838 had damaged the inn beyond repair, and it needed to be torn down. The August 13, 1843, report of the commission charged with building the theatre determined that construction would cost 20,300 florins (standard gold coin) of which only 13,000 gold coins were available. In 1846, a new commission engaged the Viennese architect A. Hefft, who came up with an acceptable plan. Construction got under way in 1848, only to be interrupted in June by the Wallachian revolution. In August 1849, after Prince Barbu Dimitrie Ştirbei took power, he ordered that construction be completed. The theatre was inaugurated on December 31, 1852, with the play Zoe sa