Guide to Prague State Opera (Státní opera)

The State Opera, which due to its refurbishment and reopening to the public on 5 January has been paid great attention to by the majority of the Czech media outlets, has an intriguing history. In the late 1880s, the German community in Prague built a new theatre in response to the recent construction of the Czech National Theatre, as well as owing to the necessity for a larger venue, as the then German Estates Theatre, at the time a century old, did no longer meet the ever-increasing staging requirements. The Neo-Renaissance building with a Neo-Rococo interior décor, designed by the Vienna-based architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, did not outshine the National Theatre in terms of the artistic expression, yet it had a larger stage and a higher seating capacity than any other theatre venue in Prague, which still holds true today.