One of the largest capital investments in Subotica, a building National Theatre, in terms of length of construction, it could be compared to the folk "Skadar na Bojana", while in terms of the amount of investment, it is "as expensive as St. Peter's scrambled eggs", he wrote last year VOICE.
The first protocol on joint financing of project documentation, reconstruction and construction of the National Theater was signed more than 20 years ago - on February 12, 2003.
However, since the beginning of its realization, for the last 17 years, works on the building of the National Theater in Subotica have been started and stopped, and compared to the original plan, they were completed 14 years later.
In Subotica, the price for the adaptation, reconstruction and extension of the building of the National Theater increased, when all changes are added, by 554 million dinars including value added tax.
A line was drawn under the determined surpluses, shortages and unforeseen works, and on April 29, the last, sixth amendment to the contract with the consortium led by SMB construction was announced.
The mayor of Subotica, Stevan Bakić, said at the end of April that it is planned for the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, to officially open the theater.
City symbol
The Nepszinhaz National Theater building dominates the center of Subotica. At its entrance, opposite the monument to the bizarre historical figure Josip Nenad, six pillars give the central square of Subotica a recognizable look.
This representative building was built in 1854.
The National Theater was closed for the first time in 1959, when due to the loosening of the building structure, there was a danger that the stage of the great hall would collapse.
A similar thing happened in 1975 when the building inspection closed the building for a short time, just like ten years later, when the great hall was finally declared unusable.
After that, it was used only on a couple of occasions, and after 1993, not at all.
The National Theater in Subotica is one of the main symbols of that city.
The building was declared an immovable cultural asset as a cultural monument of great importance.
However, most of it was demolished in the summer of 2007, and its six columns were preserved in their original form.
The decision to demolish the theater was made by the parties that were in power in Subotica at the time - the Union of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM) and the Democratic Party.
Professional public and citizens were against the project
About 5.000 people from Subotica signed a petition against the demolition of the theater in 2007.
The expert public considered the project to be inadequate, oversized and too expensive, while one of the objections expressed by the representatives of the referendum was the fact that such a theater would require too expensive maintenance that the city cannot finance.
