Passage to Eastern Europe: Belgrade National Theatre (8/22/2021)

Sunday, August 22, 2021 (continued)

At lunchtime, we asked at the Viking Ullur reception if they had stamps to sell. They did not, but they would mail our postcards tomorrow from Croatia. However, we wanted Serbian stamps, and had already arranged with this morning's local guide to have her colleague this afternoon take our postcards if we had no other option.

Thinking we would not be allowed to have free time due to COVID-19, we signed up for an optional shore excursion for the afternoon: Behind the Scenes at the Serbian Opera.

Народно позориште/National Theatre (1868, by
Aleksandar Bugarski, total reconstruction 1986-1989,
by Ljubomir Zdravković and Slobodan Drinjaković)

The National Theatre has a repertory company, with ensembles that perform drama, opera, and ballet. Rather than perform any one play or opera over several weeks, in Belgrade they rotate through many dramas, operas, and ballets, so that none are repeated over, perhaps, a couple months. Imagine changing sets, lighting, costumes, etc. every day! The season lasts about September to June, so at least it is not year round!

We can be seen in the infinity mirror of
the National Theatre entrance lobby

The Main or Grand Stage, the deepest we have ever seen,
but how often do we see behind the backdrops?!

If I remember correctly, the orchestra seats cost about $9,
the first tier seats are $6, the second tier seats are $4,
and standing room admission on the fourth tier is $1

Today the orchestra pit floor
was level with the stage

The circular rotating section of the stage

Dragan, the National Theatre Museum
director, points out the chandelier prop
made from plastic materials

Stored behind the stage are a couple month's
worth of stage props and sets

Looking down the stair well backstage

Kent can use this sign when he "markets"
his services in Serbia

It's Sunday, but someone is working in the costume department

There were multiple types of sewing machines

A couple antique irons, but they work!

They strive to make the costumes as authentic as possible (KSS)

View from the third tier

View of the painted ceiling and chandelier,
whose bulbs are changed from above!

The intermission lobby with doors
to the balcony at the front of the building

Now to the National Theatre Museum:

Model of a stage setting

Autographed toe shoes from principal ballet dancers

A few unusual wigs

Part of our theatre tour was a performance by two female opera singers (a soprano and a mezzo-soprano?), each doing two arias.  Their powerful voices overwhelmed us in the low-ceilinged museum space!

Opera costumes from Prince Igor
and Boris Godunov

Opera costumes from Madam Butterfly
and Carmen; um, the "lapels" of the kimono
need to be wrapped across each other

Opera costumes from Aida and Othello

Very fashionable crown for Aida

After the tour at the National Theatre, we did not take the motorcoach back to the ship. Instead we tipped the driver and local guide, and gave her our postcards to mail. She did not want money for the stamps, but we tipped her well.

Now to take advantage of free time! There was to be a Viking shuttle bus taking guests to and from the ship to the shopping street if we wanted a ride back.

Statue (1950) of Vasilije Vasa Čarapić, a Serbian
military commander during the First Serbian
Uprising in 1806, where he was killed
at this spot near the Stambol Gate

Someone provided water for the pigeons on this hot day

Хотел Москва/Hotel Moscow (1905-1908, by Jovan Ilkić in
Secessionist style with Greek elements, as the Russian Palace)
where Leon Trotsky stayed and in 1941 the Nazi Gestapo
moved in; it is popular with A-list celebrities

Споменик патриотама 1941/Monument to
the 1941 Patriots (1983, by Nikola Janković)
commemorates the hanging of five Serbians
(suspected of being part of the resistance)
from streetlight poles by the German Nazis

Дом Вукова задужбина/House of Vuk's Foundation
(by Branko Tanazevic in Byzantine Revival style)

Стари двор/Old Palace (1882-1884, by Aleksandar Bugarski
as a royal palace) is now the Belgrade City Hall

Нови двор/New Palace (1911-1922, by Stojan Titelbah
as a royal palace) has housed the government of Serbia
and is presently the Office of the President of Serbia

Девојка са крчагом фонтана/The Girl with the Jug Fountain
(brought from Vienna, Austria)

Drinking water fountain

Осматрачница Кајмакчалана/Mount Kajmakčalan
observation post rubble brought here as a memorial to those
who fought the 1916 battle at Kajmakčalan, the plaques
with portraits of military leaders include the French

Examples of the military leader plaques

Look! It's the post office! (closed on Sunday);
Главна пошта Србије/Central Post Office of Serbia
(1935-1938, in a combination of modernist and
academic monumental style)

Црква Светог Марка/St Mark Orthodox Church
(1932-1940, by Petar and Branko Krstić in
Serbo-Byzantine style)

A gravity-defying Statue (2018, by Zoran Maleš) of Patriarch
Pavle, the 44th Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church

Next: More Belgrade.