Hungarian Theatre and Community Centre, Kolozsvár

Based on the surviving drawings, this large-scale building on the plot at 23 King Matthias Square, a site characteristic of Cluj’s historic urban core. is a building would have been tightly enclosed by neighboring structures, and that the rear of the theatre would have faced a side street.

Access for the public would have been provided through a courtyard, reached by passing beneath an existing street-front building owned by the Reformed Church. For this reason, it is highly unlikely that the building could have been seen from the exact viewpoint shown in the architect’s perspective drawing, which depicts the theatre standing in a large, open space.

The functional layout of the design is straightforward, and the building masses reflect the austere cubic forms characteristic of Kós’s public buildings of this period—most notably the Kunsthalle (Műcsarnok) designed four years earlier for Cluj’s city park. Although this project cannot be counted among the architect’s most significant works, the fact that three separate design variants were produced clearly indicates the importance of the commission. This is especially noteworthy given that the Municipal Hungarian Theatre, whose history dated back to the 18th century, was in desperate need of new facilities, and that the Hungarian minority likewise required an appropriate venue for its cultural activities.

An interesting related fact is that in 1941, Károly Kós received a commission to restore the National Theatre of Cluj. Since the architecturally related Kunsthalle was completed around the same time, it is possible that the return and renovation of the old National Theatre rendered the construction of the Chamber Theatre unnecessary.

This is confirmed by a contemporary press report:

Keleti Újság, 31 January 1941, p. 5:

Károly Kós commissioned to restore the Cluj theatre

Budapest, January 30.

The Ministry of Religion and Public Education, together with the City of Cluj, has approved a budget of 200,000 pengő for the renovation and modernization of the Cluj theatre building. The restoration work has been entrusted to Károly Kós, the distinguished writer and architect, who has already begun the reconstruction. Regarding the project, he stated the following:

“The opening date of the Cluj National Theatre is, for the time being, uncertain due to the scale of the work involved. Naturally, I will do everything in my power to restore the theatre as quickly as possible, as it is currently in a rather neglected condition. One may hope, however, that once the reconstruction is complete, the renowned Cluj theatre will be reborn, and there is no doubt that it will soon once again fulfill the role it held decades ago, when it stood as one of the most important bastions of Hungarian culture.”