The Museum of Arts and Crafts - The exhibition “The Nutcracker – The Most Beautiful Christmas Fairy Tale”

Until February 26th 2017, the Museum of Arts and Crafts will feature the exhibition “The Nutcracker – The Most Beautiful Christmas Fairy Tale”. Ticket sales started even before the exhibition was opened due to major public interest for this unique museum presentation of the masterpiece of classical ballet.

Due to enormous public interest, for the first time in its history, the Museum of Arts and Crafts offered tickets in pre-sales for the exhibition “The Nutcracker – The Most Beautiful Christmas Fairy Tale”. The exhibition, which will be open until February 26^th 2017, represents a layered story of the world famous ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

For the first time, the St. Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music loaned its valuable artefacts to a foreign institution to stage this exhibition, and these artefacts can now be viewed by visitors in Zagreb. Part of the exhibits comes from the State Ballet of Berlin, specifically its production of The Nutcracker from 2013, which was the first time that the ballet was reconstructed by Vasily Medvedev and Juriy Burlaka, according to the original set design and choreography from 1892. Equally valuable exhibits have been loaned to the Museum of Arts and Crafts by the Teatro alla Scala foundation of Milan, including specially designed costumes from 1967, when The Nutcracker was first performed in a choreography by the great Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, who is considered one of the greatest ballet dancers of all time.

One of the most beautiful Christmas ballets has been on the repertoire of the Croatian National Theatre since 1923, and each performance throughout December is always sold out.  This exhibition offers a historic breakdown of The Nutcracker performances at the Croatian National Theatre, which has also been of great assistance by offering expert advice in helping the Museum of Arts and Crafts set up the exhibition. By creating a unique museum presentation of the classical ballet masterpiece Zagreb has found a prominent place on the cultural map of the world.