Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House is the third theatre to stand on this Covent Garden site, and its story begins with fire: earlier buildings were destroyed in 1808 and 1856 before the current façade, foyer, and auditorium were completed in 1858. Before that rebuild, the first Theatre Royal opened in 1732, serving mainly as a playhouse for its first hundred years, with ballet added by 1734. A year later, Handel’s operas entered the rhythm of the theatre, with his first opera season launching in 1735 and many of his works written for Covent Garden premiering here. Today the main auditorium seats 2,256 people—London’s third-largest—and the proscenium opening measures 14.80 metres wide by 12.20 metres high. The theatre remains Grade I listed, and while a major reconstruction in the 1990s reshaped almost the entire complex, the 1858 spaces still define the room’s character. …

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