Estates Theatre

Staré Město

LoginSave

Prague’s oldest theatre and finest neoclassical building, the Estates Theatre is where the premiere of Mozart’s Don Giovanni was performed on 29 October 1787, with the maestro himself conducting. Opened in 1783 as the Nostitz Theatre (after its founder, Count Anton von Nostitz-Rieneck), it was patronised by upper-class German citizens and thus came to be called the Estates Theatre – the Estates being the traditional nobility.

After WWII it was renamed the Tylovo divadlo (Tyl Theatre) in honour of the 19th-century Czech playwright Josef Kajetán Tyl. One of his claims to fame is that the Czech national anthem, Kde domov můj? (Where is My Home?), came from one of his plays. In the early 1990s the theatre’s name reverted to Estates Theatre. To see the interior you can attend a performance or take a guided tour.

Transportation

  • metro: Můstek

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • Apple Museum

    Apple Museum

    0.24 MILES

    This shrine to all things Apple claims to be the world's biggest private collection of Apple products, with at least one of everything made by the company…

  • Facade of Jewish Ceremonial Hall in Prague, Czech Republic; Shutterstock ID 95823832; Your name (First / Last): Josh Vogel; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: Sights

    Prague Jewish Museum

    0.36 MILES

    This museum consists of six Jewish monuments clustered together in Josefov: the Maisel Synagogue; the Pinkas Synagogue; the Spanish Synagogue; the Klaus…

  • The Gothic towers of Prague's St Vitus's Cathedral. The cathedral is the largest and the most important church in the city.

    St Vitus Cathedral

    1.07 MILES

    Built over a time span of almost 600 years, St Vitus is one of the most richly endowed cathedrals in central Europe. It is pivotal to the religious and…

  • Charles bridge looking towards the Old Town Sq.

    Charles Bridge

    0.6 MILES

    Strolling across Charles Bridge is everybody’s favourite Prague activity. However, by 9am it’s a 500m-long fairground, with an army of tourists squeezing…

  • Globes and bookshelves in Theology Hall, Strahov Monastery.

    Strahov Library

    1.55 MILES

    Strahov Library is the largest monastic library in the country, with two magnificent baroque halls dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. You can peek…

  • Municipal House

    Municipal House

    0.24 MILES

    Prague’s most exuberantly art-nouveau building is a labour of love, with every detail of its design and decoration carefully considered, and every…

  • Natiuonal Vitkov Monument in Prague; Shutterstock ID 594225362; Your name (First / Last): Gemma Graham; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: POI update for Prague destination page

    National Monument

    1.2 MILES

    While this monument's massive functionalist structure has all the elegance of a nuclear power station, the interior is a spectacular extravaganza of…

  • Baroque building facades, Wenceslas Square.

    Wenceslas Square

    0.35 MILES

    More a broad boulevard than a typical European city square, Wenceslas Square has witnessed a great deal of Czech history – a giant Mass was held here…

View more attractions

Nearby Staré Město attractions

1. Na Příkopě

0.09 MILES

Na Příkopě (On the Moat) – along with Revoluční (Revolution), 28.října (28 October 1918; Czechoslovak Independence Day) and Národní třída (National Ave) –…

2. Koruna Palace

0.11 MILES

An art-nouveau design by Antonín Pfeiffer, this shopping centre and office block has a tower topped with a crown of pearls. Note its tiny but charming…

3. Church of Our Lady Before Týn

0.13 MILES

Its distinctive twin Gothic spires make the Týn Church an unmistakable Old Town landmark. Like something out of a 15th-century – and probably slightly…

4. Museum of Czech Cubism

0.13 MILES

Though dating from 1912, Josef Gočár’s House of the Black Madonna (Dům U černé Matky Boží) – Prague’s first and finest example of cubist architecture –…

5. Astronomical Clock

0.14 MILES

Every hour, on the hour, crowds gather beneath the Old Town Hall Tower to watch the Astronomical Clock in action. Despite a slightly underwhelming…

6. Old Town Hall Tower

0.14 MILES

The Old Town Hall’s best feature is the view across the Old Town Square from its 60m-tall clock tower. It's well worth the climb up the modern,…

7. House at the Black Bear

0.15 MILES

The baroque facade of this building is adorned with a statue of St John of Nepomuk above the door and a bear in chains on the corner, a reminder of the…

8. Old Town Square

0.15 MILES

One of Europe’s most beautiful and busiest urban spaces, the Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí, or Staromák for short) has been Prague’s principal…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting: 
    {
  "url": "czech-republic/prague/stare-mesto/attractions/estates-theatre/a/poi-sig/401313/1323269",
  "destination": "Staré-Město",
  "continent": "Europe",
  "country": "Czechia",
  "city": "Prague",
  "neighborhood": "Staré-Město",
  "position": "superzone"
}