An application was submitted by František Palacký to the Provincial Committee of the Bohemian Assembly on 29 January 1845, requesting "the privilege of constructing, furnishing, maintaining and managing" of an independent Czech theatre.

A year later the proceeds went toward the purchase of land belonging to a former salt works covering an area of not quite 28 acres (11 ha) which determined the magnificent site of the theatre on the banks of the river Vltava facing the panorama of Prague Castle, but at the same time the cramped area and trapezium shape posed challenging problems for the designers of the building.

Rieger and the Provincial Committee, the young progressive advocates of the original ambitious concept of the building (Sladkovský, Tyrš, Neruda, Hálek) launched an offensive.

In 1865 these men attained leading positions in the Society and requested the 33-year-old professor of civil engineering at the Prague Technical College, architect Josef Zítek, to draft a design for the National Theatre.

They provided the fundamental ideology guiding artistic expression, which today is described as the art of the generation of the National Theatre.

He was the one to assert the expansion of the edifice to include the block of flats belonging to Dr. Polák that was situated behind the building of the Provisional Theatre.

The building, with perfect technical equipment (electric illumination, a steel-constructed stage), served without any extensive modifications for almost one hundred years.

The work was completed to meet an important deadline, which was the date of the 100th anniversary of the opening of the National Theatre: 18 November 1983.

Today it functions as the main stage of the three artistic ensembles of the National Theatre: drama, opera and ballet.

In 1989 the general director of the National Theatre, composer Jiří Pauer was dismissed from his post because of his support for the policies of the former Communist Czechoslovak government.

Pauer locked all staff out of the National and Smetana theatres on 17 November 1989 to prevent members of the opera, ballet and drama companies from staging protest performances.

The composer Karel Kovařovic was made opera director, and as a conductor, his work became noticeable in improvements in the orchestra, chorus and solo ensemble.

He also attracted leading singers to the ensemble, such as Karel Burian (later a Wagnerian tenor at Bayreuth), Otakar Mařák, Emil Pollert, and Gabriela Horvatova.

He began with the first performance of The Excursions of Mr. Brouček, and mounted Berg's Wozzeck immediately after its premiere, leading to a scandal and the threat of his dismissal.