The Vienna State Opera

Name: Chenfei Cao

Course:Arch 162- M 12
The Vienna State Opera         
            The Vienna State Opera, also known as Wiener Staatsoper, is among the globally leading opera houses, and is located in Vienna, Austria. The opera house is internationally acclaimed for performances of works by various prominent contributors in arts, such as Richard Strauss and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The opera house building was constructed in the year 1869, and has a rich history that is worth discussion here.
            Construction of the Vienna State Opera building started in 1861, when the city expansion fund commissioned it. It was the first prominent building within the area of Ringstrasse at that time (Halsey). Eduard van der Null and August Sicard von Sicardsburg and designed the interior and overall structure of the building (Wiener-staatsoper.at). The building is a true representation of the neo-renaissance architectural style under the supervision of the Czech contractor Josef Hlávka. The Kelheimerstein, due to its unique properties and more appropriate color schemes, was initially recommended as the main stone for the building; however, due to its scarcity, it was replaced by the Breitenbrunner stone, while the Kaiserstein was replaced with Jois as a cheaper and more dependable alternative (Wiener-staatsoper.at). However, the building wasn’t very popular with the public. Firstly, it didn’t look as grand as the Heinrichshof, which is a private residence that was destroyed in World War II. Secondly, the level of Ringstraße was raised by a metre in front of the opera house after its construction had begun, the latter was likened to "a sunken treasure chest" and, in analogy to the military disaster of 1866 was deprecatingly referred to as "the 'Königgrätz' of architecture". Eduard van der Nüll committed suicide, and following barely ten weeks, S icardsburg died from tuberculosis so both architect never saw the completion of the building. The opening premiere was Don Giovanni, by Mozart, on May 25, 1869. Emperor Franz Josef and Empress Elisabeth (Sissi) were present. (En.wikipedia.org, 2018).
            Most parts of the building’s interior have been decorated using different marble varieties (Bert). For the exterior of the building, dimension stone and the Sóskút stone were utilized (Bert). Nonetheless, an US-led bombing resulted in almost complete destruction of the opera building (Halsey). The main stairways, the foyer, the team room and the vestibule remained intact. The rest of the parts, both interior and exterior, were burnt down and destroyed. The building was completely reconstructed by assistance from the US Marshall Plan aid, taxes and other contributions in 1955.  
 Bert, Dijk. "Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) - Vienna State Opera." Gustav-mahler.eu. N. p., 2015. Web. 23 Apr. 2018.
 Halsey, Eric. "The Incredible History of the Vienna State Opera." ConcertVienna. N. p., 2015. https://www.concertvienna.com/blog/vienna-opera/history-of-the-vienna-state-opera/. 23 Apr. 2018.
Staatsoper, Wiener. "History." Wiener-staatsoper.at. N. p., 2018. https://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/en/staatsoper/the-opera-house/history/. 23 Apr. 2018.

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