"The Opera House" Top 5 Page for this destination Opera House Tip by Nemorino

From the outside, the Hannover Opera House still (or again) looks much the same as it did when it first opened as the Royal Court Theatre (Königliches Hoftheater) on September 1, 1852.

In July 1943 the inside of the theater was destroyed fire bombs in one of the many bombing attacks of the Second World War, but the outer walls remained standing. The theater was re-built starting in 1947 and re-opened on November 30, 1950, with a performance of Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss.

To save time and money, only the most rudimentary stage machinery was installed in 1950, consisting mainly of cranks and pulleys that were turned by hand. The first hydraulic stage machinery was not installed until 1960-63.

At the same time, the backstage areas were enlarged and rearranged, following plans that had existed since 1927 but had never been implemented.

In the 1980s the auditorium, where we spectators sit, was re-designed and re-built, not only for optical reasons but also to improve the acoustics. Then in the 1990s the thirty- to forty-year old stage machinery had to be replaced because it no longer conformed to modern safety standards. This also meant strengthening the foundations under the stage area, which was done during the summer break in 1996.

The summer break in 1997 had to be lengthened to permit installation of completely new machinery above the stage, and the same happened in 1998 to allow replacement of everything below the stage.

Fifth photo: The Royal Court Theatre as it looked in the year 1852.

Address: Opernplatz 1, 30159 Hannover
Directions: Location of the opera house on Google Maps
Phone: 0511 - 9999 1111
Website: http://www.oper-hannover.de/oper/