12/05/2026
Two architects, one opera house, one of Vienna’s greatest stories 🎭
The Wiener Staatsoper was the first grand building on Vienna’s Ringstrasse.
It opened on 25 May 1869 with Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
Both architects, Sicard von Sicardsburg and van der Nüll, never saw their work finished. Van der Nüll, who suffered from depression and illness, took his own life in 1868 during a wave of harsh public criticism. His partner Sicardsburg died only ten weeks later.
On 12 March 1945, just weeks before the end of the war, bombs almost destroyed the building. Ten years later, it reopened with Beethoven’s Fidelio, a symbol of a free Austria.
The Schwind Foyer carries scenes from famous operas, some of them personally chosen by Emperor Franz Joseph. The Tea Salon was once reserved for the imperial family.
📍 Wiener Staatsoper - Opernring 2, 1010 Vienna
Which opera would you love to see here? 🎭
Come visit Vienna 🤗
