Habima National Theatre

Why go

Habima was founded in 1918 by Nahum Zemach in Moscow under the auspices of the Moscow Art Theatre, with patronage from Stanislavski who arranged for the mainly Polish actors to be trained by Yevgeny Vakhtangov. The People's Commissar of Nationalities Affairs, Joseph Stalin, also authorized the theatre's creation.

What to look for

• The People's Commissar of Nationalities Affairs, Joseph Stalin, also authorized the theatre's creation.
• At that time Habima invited director Aleksei Dikiy from the Moscow Art Theatre.

The full story

Habima National Theatre ("The Stage"), located in Tel Aviv, is Israel's national theatre and one of the first Hebrew language theatres. Habima was founded in 1918 by Nahum Zemach in Moscow under the auspices of the Moscow Art Theatre, with patronage from Stanislavski who arranged for the mainly Polish actors to be trained by Yevgeny Vakhtangov. The People's Commissar of Nationalities Affairs, Joseph Stalin, also authorized the theatre's creation. At that time Habima invited director Aleksei Dikiy from the Moscow Art Theatre. Dikiy directed two successful plays for Habima: one was Der Oytser (The Treasure), a play in Yiddish by Sholom Aleichem, that premiered on December 29, 1928. Habima has been officially considered the national theatre of Israel since at least 1958, the year in which it received the Israel Prize for theatre, such year being also the first year in which the Prize was awarded to an organization.

Useful to know

• Check current interior access before setting out, especially around holidays, services or special events.
• Keep the visit in the same geographic cluster as nearby stops; cross-city transfers can take longer than the map suggests.

Your next visit

Estimated · Declared scenario and planning estimates; no live opening, weather, queue or booking service.