The renewed beauty of the theatre costumes of Smetana's operas

Take a peek into the magical world of opera costumes and the secrets of restoration work!

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The exhibition presents original historical costumes of the composer's operas from the collection of the Bedřich Smetana Museum. At the same time, it provides a glimpse of the restoration work that allows the costumes to be seen again as they were seen by the audience in the second half of the 19th century at the Provisional and National Theatre.

In 1934, the National Theatre in Prague handed over a collection of 54 historical costumes from the late 19th century operas The Bartered Bride, Dalibor, Libuše and Hubička to the Smetana Museum's collections. One of the main components of the care of the collections provided by the Bedřich Smetana Museum is restoration work, which began systematically in the early 1990s.

To date, 14 costumes have made their way from the depository to the restoration workshop and back. The exhibition presents four of them: the coat and hat from the costume of Kecal (The Bartered Bride), the cut from the costume of Chrudoš (Libuše), Milada's mourning dress from Act I (Dalibor) and Milada's shirt from Act II (Dalibor).

The most historically valuable are the lace headdress from the premiere of The Bartered Bride, which took place in 1866 at the Provisional Theatre, and the brass headdress from the costume of Libuše from the 1883–1894 production of the opera of the same name at the National Theatre.

The costumes are accompanied by photographs and stage designs for contemporary productions.

Photoalbum

The Bartered Bride, coat and hat from the costume of Kecal, National Theatre, 1888

Vilém Heš as Kecal. Photo by Josef Fiedler, Prague, [1885–1891]

Dalibor, mourning costume of Milada from Act I of the opera, National Theatre, [around 1900]

Costume design for the character of Milada from Act I, Karel Štapfer, National Theatre, 1900, coloured drawing

Růžena Maturová sang Milada at the National Theatre in 1894–1909. Photo by J. F. Langhans, Prague, [after 1900]

Dalibor, shirt from the costume of Milada from Act 2 of the opera, National Theatre, 1900

Costume design for the character Milada from Act 2 of the opera Dalibor, National Theatre, 1900, coloured drawing

Růžena Maturová as Milada, Act 2 of Dalibor. Photo by J. F. Langhans, Prague, [after 1900]

Headdress from the costume of Libuše, National Theatre, [1883–1894]

Anna Slavíková first sang Libuše at the National Theatre in 1908 in an alternation with Růžena Maturová. Photo by Jan Schumpeter, Prague, [1908–1914]

Ema Destinnová made nine guest appearances at the National Theatre in the role of Libuše. Photo by Langhans, Prague, 1913

View into the exhibition