A projection television apparatus having a retrofocus type projection lens system which has a sufficiently long back focus, a small F number and a large distortion. The lens system is constructed with five components and five lenses and comprises a first lens which is a negative meniscus lens that has at its screen side a convex surface, a second lens which is a biconvex lens, a third lens which is a biconcave lens, a fourth lens which is a positive lens, and a fifth lens which is a biconvex lens, and which is defined by the following four conditions, i.e.1.4f