Operahuset, Stockholm

Operahuset is the present home of the Royal Swedish Opera, Sweden’s national stage for opera, ballet, and modern dance. The institution reaches back to 1773, when King Gustav III founded it as a place for the country’s performing arts to develop. The building you see dates from 1898 and was designed by Axel Anderberg, with inspiration drawn from the Paris Opera.

Its lavish interior includes an auditorium with 1,100 seats, a ceiling painting by Vicke Andrén, and a chandelier weighing two tonnes. Look toward the large balcony adjoining the Guldfoajén: that reception room measures 28 by 8 metres, with gilded walls and mirrors. The opera house also contains more than 1,000 other rooms, while its thirteen floors are not apparent from outside.

This is also a place marked by political history. Gustav III was shot during a masked ball in the earlier opera house on this site in 1792, and the room where he was taken was recreated in the present building. Today, the stage carries both new productions and revivals, continuing a Swedish performance tradition that began here in the eighteenth century.