State Opera
Neo-rococo opera house of 1888, restored in 2020, staging opera and ballet near the main station.
The State Opera opened on 5 January 1888 as the New German Theatre, built for Prague's German-speaking community as a rival to the Czech National Theatre. The Viennese practice of Fellner & Helmer, prolific builders of theatres across central Europe, produced a restrained neo-Renaissance exterior concealing one of the most lavish neo-rococo auditoriums in the region, its tiers of boxes framed in gilded stucco beneath a painted ceiling.
Under conductors including Alexander Zemlinsky and Georg Szell the house became a centre for contemporary opera between the wars, giving early performances of works by Schoenberg and others. It was renamed the Smetana Theatre after 1945 and became the State Opera in 1992, joining the National Theatre in 2012. A three-year reconstruction returned the interior to its 1888 appearance, including a recreated curtain after Eduard Veith, and the house reopened on 5 January 2020.
Highlights
- Gilded neo-rococo auditorium restored to its 1888 appearance
- Recreated stage curtain after Eduard Veith's original design
- Opened in 1888 as Prague's New German Theatre
- Reopened in January 2020 after a three-year reconstruction
