Page 142 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Vienna

140  VIENNA AREA B Y AREA OPER A AND NASCHM ARK T  141

1 State Opera House
The Vienna Opera Ball VISITORS’ CHECKLIST
Vienna’s State Opera House, or Staatsoper, was On the last Thursday of the Vienna Carnival the stage is extended to Practical Information
the first of the grand Ringstrasse buildings to be cover the seats in the Opernring 2, A-1010.
completed (see pp34–5); it opened on 25 May 1869 auditorium, creating space Map 4 D1 & 5 C5. Tel 514442250.
for the Opera Ball (see
Open for performances and
to the strains of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Built in Neo- p231). This is Vienna’s most guided tours. 8 call 514442606
Renaissance style, it initially failed to impress the extravagant social event, for tour details. & 7 -
Viennese. Yet when it was hit by a bomb in 1945 and opened by debutantes ∑ wiener-staatsoper.at
largely destroyed, the event was seen as a symbolic in white dresses and Transport
attended by around
blow to the city. With a brand new auditorium and Reliefs of Opera and Ballet (1861–9) 5,000 guests, including % Karlsplatz. v D, 1, 2, 71.
stage incorporating the latest technology, the State Painted allegorical lunettes by Johann international celebrities.
Opera House reopened on 5 November 1955 with Preleuthner represent ballet, tragic opera
and comic opera (above).
a performance of Beethoven’s Fidelio.
. Grand Staircase
A splendid marble staircase
sweeps up from the main
entrance to the first floor. The Architects
It is embellished with The architects of the Opera
statues by Josef Gasser House, August Sicard von
of the seven liberal arts and Sicardsburg (right) and
reliefs of opera and ballet. Eduard van der
Nüll (left).

. Schwind Foyer
The foyer is decorated with
scenes from operas painted by
Moritz von Schwind. Among the
busts of famous composers and
conductors is Rodin’s bronze bust Main
of Mahler (1909). entrance

Fountain
KEY On either side of the
Opera House stand two
1 One of the five bronze statues . Tea Room graceful fountains.
by Ernst Julius Hähnel, depicting Franz Joseph and his Designed by Josef Gasser, The Magic Flute Tapestries
Heroism, Drama, Fantasy, Humour entourage used to spend this one depicts the One of the two side salons, the
and Love, stands under the arches the intervals in this graceful legendary siren Lorelei Gustav Mahler Saal, is hung with
of the loggia. room, which is decorated supported by figures modern tapestries by Rudolf
2 The Auditorium with silk hangings bearing representing Grief, Love Eisenmenger illustrating scenes
the emperor’s initials. and Vengeance. from The Magic Flute.

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