Budapest Guide
Terézváros and Erzsébetváros
The State Opera House
Opening time: English-language tours daily at 3 & 4pm
Price: 2600Ft
Address: Andrássy útca 22
Website: www.opera.hu
The State Opera House (Állami Operaház) was founded by Ferenc Erkel, the composer of Hungary's national anthem, and occupies a magnificent neo-Renaissance pile built in 1875–84 by Miklós Ybl. It can boast of being directed by Mahler (who was driven out by the anti-Semitism he experienced in the city), hosting performances conducted by Otto Klemperer and Antal Doráti, and sheltering two hundred local residents (including Kodály) in its cellars during the siege of Budapest. The 1260-seat auditorium was the first in Europe to feature an iron fire curtain (installed after a blaze at the Vienna Opera House), underfloor heating and air-conditioning. Its chandelier weighs three tonnes, and 2.7 kilos of gold were used to gild the fixtures. To the left of the stage is the box used by Emperor Franz Josef's wife, Sissi, who loved Hungarian opera as much as he detested it. The upstairs reception rooms and downstairs foyer are equally lavish, festooned with portraits and busts of Hungarian divas and composers. Tickets for English-language tours of the interior are available from the shop to the left of the foyer.