February 11, 2020 - The City of Split has allocated 850,000 kuna in its 2020 budget, which includes adapting the Croatian National Theatre Split, or HNK Split, for people with disabilities. 

Dalmacija Danas reports that the Croatian National Theatre building in Split was built in 1893 and destroyed in a major fire in 1970. The reconstruction itself lasted almost ten years, with the program performed in the Lora House Hall and the Kina Split Hall. Ownership relations have not been regulated since then, and on January 25, 2018, the City of Split initiated proceedings before the Split Municipal Court to enforce the registration of ownership of the City. The procedure was completed after two years. 

Thus, the City of Split has provided funds for one of the most important civil engineering infrastructural interventions in the 2020 Budget, which is the adaptation of the building for the accessibility of persons with disabilities. During the last year, the project documentation was prepared - the entrance to the building itself, the entrances to the lodges and the installation of an elevator will be adjusted, and all projects have been approved by the Ministry of Culture, Conservation Department in Split.

Preparations are underway for the procurement process for the installation of an elevator at the location of the cashier to be relocated. The entrance door of the lodge will be adapted as well as the main entrance to the building itself by installing a new ramp, which, unlike the existing one, will meet all the conditions for disabled people to enter independently. The budget for this year’s projects is 850,000 kuna. 

Recently, the renovation works on the ground floor of the theater were completed. The funds were secured by the application of the City of Split to the competition of the Ministry of Croatian Veterans Affairs and by the sponsorship of HEP and the Split “Lionsa” at a humanitarian concert.

The inaccessibility at the most important theater institution in Dalmatia will soon be a thing of the past.

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February 3, 2020 - The Croatian National Theater Split (HNK Split) is using 'cat island’ next to the official theater entrance to help promote its February events.

The citizens of Split are well aware that a few years ago, street cats began settling in the central green area next to HNK Split. Over time, they have not only taken over this green city area, so much, that is has been given the name ‘cat island’, but they've also won the hearts of locals and visitors alike. 

Today, Splitski Dnevnik writes that the dozen or so cats who spend their time here each day will now find shelter thanks to cat homes named in honor of the February event Bambina, which is expected to premiere on February 14, but also Romeo and Juliet, Cicibela and Roko, to cover the whole ‘month of love’.

"This is a small intervention. The first time I came to Split, I was surprised at how many cats were fed, chipped, and neutered, which is good for the theater because we have drastically fewer mice. The other thing is that a lot of tourists take photos of the cats, and many citizens feed them. It occurred to me that, following the model of Antalya, where the city services set up shelters in the places cats gather, we wanted to do a similar project. Not only will this make them more comfortable, but we can also mark the premiere of the musical Bambina in this way,” said the leader of this charity and promotional action, called 'Homes for cats in the theater square', intendant Srećko Šestan.

Two houses read the names Tonca and Mariana, who are characters from the Bambina musical.

"This is a small, wonderful human gesture to our little friends. I have been a member of Animal Friends for many years, and I have Frida, a well-fed pet cat at home, which is why I think it is wonderful to help the little four-legged friends of the theater this way. I am also glad that one of the homes is called 'Bambina', although in our play, it is the name of a tanker, so it will probably be for the biggest cat. This kind of thing makes everyone a little bit better,” said Bambina show director Krešo Dolenčić.

The seven colorful houses brightening up the square were made in a fireproof plywood theater workshop. They are intentionally not grounded, as Šestan says, hoping that the citizens of Split will respect them and not take them home.

"If someone needs a cat shelter, we will gladly make it, because they were made by our employees and painted by our painters," concluded Šestan.

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December 14, 2019 - The nineteenth edition of the humanitarian action "A di si ti?!" was held today at Gaje Bulata Square in front of HNK Split.

Splitski Dnevnik reports that this action, which was born 19 years ago as an idea to encourage volunteerism, has grown beyond itself and became a clear indicator of how much the people of Split are willing to help. At the same time, homelessness is in focus as a social phenomenon, making it clear that this is not a problem that should be pushed under the rug, but something that can happen to anyone today.

"A di si ti?!" brought together 75 organizations, institutions, schools, citizens, and more than 500 volunteers who helped throughout the action. "A di si ti?!" started back in 2000 on the Riva, said Most Vice President Dado Lelas. However, it never occurred to them that things would grow as they did, and that it would expand so much that the space in front of HNK became too small.

“Although we have had numerous donations and actions throughout December, which have grown more and more each year, we always wanted to do something on the street, but raising money has never been a primary goal. I cannot say that money isn’t good for us, but that wasn’t the point, we wanted to include as many schools and organizations as possible in volunteerism and start the conversation about homelessness, in fact, on topics that were not talked about back in 2000. We also wanted our customers to see that it is not only MoSt that is behind them, but that it is raising citizens' awareness," Lelas says, adding:

"The funds raised are intended exclusively for the homeless shelter, are placed in a separate account, and are also used partly to upgrade the center. With it, we manage to distribute small one-off cash payouts for Christmas and buy food. At the same time, we also use these funds for some expenses that they cannot provide, for example, for personal documents, for them to return home, which are small one-off costs that they cannot meet through social institutions. Of course, it also benefits us in terms of maintaining the space - we accept a lot of people, they change, we have to invest constantly, so this year we had to renovate the space two or three times and that money is good for us."

The action ran until 2 pm today and is an ideal opportunity to buy inexpensive gifts for the upcoming holidays while helping those in need.

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November 28, 2019 - HNK Split announced a vibrant Advent program on Wednesday, including, among other things, a concert "Za Điđija", in memory of the late maestro Vjekoslav Šutej, the premiere of the drama "Laponija", six performances of the ballet "Nutcracker", two Christmas and three New Year's concerts and four performances of the play “Miracle at Viper’s Glen”.

Namely, Splitski Dnevnik reports that at Scene 55, the premiere of “Laponija” by Cristina Clemente and Marc Angelet will be on December 12, and the drama will be performed seven more times during December.

Fans of the drama program will be able to see Ante Tomić's play “Miracle at Viper’s Glen” four times in December. This play, by director Marija Kovač, has been performed 25 times thus far and seen by some 13,000 viewers.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's most performed ballet "The Nutcracker" is traditionally in the HNK Advent program six times this winter. Maestro Hari Zlodre will direct the orchestra of the Split National Theater, and more than one hundred dancers will perform in this festive Christmas ballet.

HNK Split will remember Vjekoslav Šutej on December 22 in the Advent program with the concert “Za Điđija". Ivan Repušić will conduct the show of opera arias and choirs in memory of maestro Šutej.

“Two days before and two days after Christmas, we will hold a Christmas concert by the choir of HNK Split. The concerts will take place from December 23-27 and feature works by G. F. Händel, M. Lauridsen, J. S. Bach, E. Whitacre, Ivan pl. Zajc, M. Lešćan, A. Adam, W. Gomez, S. Rachmaninoff and A. Vidaković,” announced the intendant of the Split National Theater, Srećko Šestan.

According to tradition, the HNK Split Orchestra will hold a New Year's Concert on December 28, 29, and 30, conducted by maestro Jure Bučević. They will perform works by Rossini, Mozart, Tijardović, Tchaikovsky, Lehar, and Johann Strauss Jr.

You can find more information and purchase tickets for the Advent program at HNK Split here. 

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September 28, 2019 - Shake off your end of summer blues with the Croatian National Theatre's new season in Split.

Splitski Dnevnik writes that two operas and four drama premieres, two ballets and many reruns and concerts are part of the upcoming season at the Croatian National Theater Split, announced director Srecko Sestan at a press conference on Friday.

Presenting the new directors of Drama - Jelena Bosancic, Opera - Jura Bucevic and Ballet - Ilir Kerni, director Sestan said that for this season, the link was "The Mediterranean with the center in Split" and that the season would be exciting.

He congratulated the national champion of HNK Split, Ivica Cikes, for winning the County award, which will be presented to him on Monday.

“What I want to emphasize is that our concert subscription has dropped tremendously. Given that we now have a key problem empowering our orchestra, in this financial situation, I did not dare announce a concert subscription and be responsible for making those programs a reality. Nevertheless, there will be very interesting concerts, and all subscribers so far will have a discount and priority when purchasing concert tickets,” Sestan added.

Thus, the opera premieres will include Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto and Verdi's Lombardi, and as for the ballets, the audience will be able to watch the premieres of Piazzolla/Stravinski and Barak Marshall's Monger.

The most premieres are in the drama program. The audience will be able to enjoy Lepurica by Ana Prolić and Bambina by Ana Tonković Dolenčić which brings Neno Belan’s hits to the big stage. 

The small stage features Laponija by Marco Angelet and Cristina Clemente, directed by Nenni Delmestre, and The Homecoming by Harold Pinter, directed by Nina Mitrovic.

The audience will again be able to watch Little Floramye, Splitski Akvarel, Ero s onoga svijeta, Parallel Worlds, The Crucible, The Imaginary Invalid, The Taming of the Shrew, Ol smo za jedan dan, and Čudo u Poskokovoj Dragi.

The small stage will once again feature the performances of Little Moscow, Stories from Vukovar, and reruns of the ballet Coppelia, The Nutcracker, and Death and the Dervish. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem was announced on the eve of All Saints' Day, a concert of Croatian Christmas songs on December 21 and 23, and a New Year's concert on December 28, 29 and 30.

Drama director Jelena Bosancic said that they had a big job ahead of them and that they should "roll up their sleeves" and work hard. 

“Any personality of power must be discarded for us to come together. I will not engage in any position other than the position of work and use my energy and fusion with positivity to better implement this beautiful season,” Bosancic concluded.

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Days of Diocletian officially opened in Split on May 17, 2019, and will last until September 27, 2019. 

The Days of Diocletian pilot project, which proved successful last year, will continue this year through the end of September, reports Splitski Dnevnik on May 17, 2019. 

This year's event started precisely at noon with a festive children’s program at Peristyle. Recall, the goal of the event is to revitalize history and enrich the antique content throughout the summer.

"Under the leadership of HNK Split, Emperor Diocletian will come to Perityle, where the ‘Changing of the Guard’ ceremony will be held, and as part of the program, we can expect the address of Emperor Diocletian, the Roman legion and numerous other surprises,” announced the Split Tourist Board

"As part of this event, we will see the traditional 'Changing of the Guard’, a project under the leadership of HNK, as well as Roman Legions at the live museum. We are taking the good experiences from last year and are using them for the events throughout the summer,” added the director of the Split Tourist Board.

Head of the Roman Guard, Ivan Vatavuk, added that the 'Changing of the Guard' ceremony is expected every Friday at noon, and young actors of the Split Theater will play in the roles of Diocletian and Prisca. Vatavuk continued by saying that the Roman legion has walked through Peristyle for the last 14 years, but while they wore plastic armor in the beginning, they now carry 10-17 kilograms of heavy weight to give the tourists a real look into the past.

“This year, through the entire tourist season, we intend to introduce tourists to the Praetorians and the Legion, and with the help of scenery from HNK, we tried to isolate the 21st century from the Peristyle completely. We have created a total of four projects this year, and the first of them is the greeting and speech of Emperor Diocletian, to be held every Friday in Peristyle, with the formation of the legion and the gladiator fight. Another program called “Dare to Know" will be conducted by two actors Ivan Baranović and Marjan Nejašmić Banić, who will walk around the city and begin an interactive and educational relationship with tourists. The goal is to see how much tourists know about Split. We'll call tourists in the alleyways, let them know about the history of the city. Everything will be recorded and used as promotional material for the Tourist Board,” Vatavuk said. 

The third project is the Roman march, which was also launched as a pilot project last year, during which Diocletian walks Split by night.

"Then you see the Emperor stop in a crowd of 20 people drinking a glass of wine, and everyone stops, and then they want photos and it’s an interactive experience."

The last project is a memorial to the Imperial Split, which will allow tourists to take photos with the Emperor, Empress, and the entire guard on Fridays and post the images on social networks with the hashtags #visitsplit, #croatiafulloflife, to further promote the city. 

Diocletian's legacy will also be displayed through the living museum project at the Cornaro rampart where every first Friday of the month, visitors can see the Roman legion formation, gladiator fights, and be able to shoot bows and arrows and try on the legionary equipment, said Lovre Ćakić, secretary of Association of Diocletian's Legion.

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November 30, 2018 - Because winter is the best excuse to be cooped up in the comfort of a theatre like HNK Split. 

On November 4, 2017, young students from the Ballet Studio of the Split National Theater will perform the ballet triptych East/West.

Yesterday at noon, a handful of inflated condoms sailed the skies above Split, marking the opening of the event ‘Period - 28 Days of Activist-Artist Interventions in Public Spaces’, which was held at Trg Gaje Bulata in front of HNK.

The 27th Days of Marulić, the festival of Croatian drama, begins tomorrow in Split.