Wrocław Opera (Wroclaw)

 opera, theatre, 1840s construction

www.opera.wroclaw.pl/
Wrocław Opera House with its monumental classic edifice has been the pride of the city since 1841 as one of the most interesting opera houses in Poland. Lately renovated and modernised, the interior has made the Opera House a significant structure, due to its modern equipment: a large, deep stage with hydraulic trapdoors, entirely computerised, modern lightning park, electro-acoustic equipment of the finest quality and spacious comfortable orchestra pit. The Opera House auditorium is furnished with stylish comfortable stalls.
The original theater located on this site was designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans, architect of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. However, the theater was very run down, and so in 1839 the city commissioned his son, Carl Ferdinand Langhans, to design a new theater. It opened in 1841 as the Breslauer Stadttheater, featuring a modern stage and 1,600 seats. After fires in 1865 and 1871, the theater was remodeled and enlarged, first by Karl Lüdecke and then Karl Schmidt. In 1871 stone muse statues were also erected along the roof, along with busts of four prominent German composers and musicians - Beethoven, Mozart, Goethe, and Schiller. After 1945 these were removed for political reasons. The theater was thoroughly modernized between 1997 and 2006. However, the interior retains most of its 19th-century decoration.
This theater has hosted many great artists in its history, including Carl Maria von Weber, Franz Liszt, Hans von Bülow, Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, Niccolò Paganini, Anton Rubenstein, and Leo Slezak.