- Khedivial Opera House
The Khedivial Opera House or Royal Opera House (Arabic: دار أوبرا الخديوي) was the original opera house in
Cairo ,Egypt . It was dedicated onNovember 1 ,1869 and burned down onOctober 28 ,1971 .The opera house was built on the orders of the
Khedive Ismail to celebrate the opening of theSuez Canal . The architects Pietro Avoscani (fromLivorno ) and Rossi designed the building. It seated approximately 850 people and was made mostly of wood. It was located between the districts ofAzbakeya and Ismailyya in Egypt's capital city.Verdi's opera "
Rigoletto " was chosen as the first opera to be performed at the opera house onNovember 1 ,1869 . But already Ismail was planning a far grander exhibition for his new theatre. After months of delay due to the outbreak of theFranco-Prussian War , Verdi's new opera, "Aida ", received its world premiere at the Khedivial Opera House onDecember 24 ,1871 .In the early morning hours of
October 28 ,1971 , the opera house burned to the ground. The all-wooden building was quickly consumed, and only two statues made byMohammed Hassan survived.After the original opera house was destroyed, Cairo was without an opera house for nearly two decades until the opening of the new
Cairo Opera House in 1988.The site where the Khedivial Opera House used to stand has been rebuilt into a rather bland multistory concrete car garage, but the square overlooking the building is still called Opera Square (Meidan El Opera)
External links
* [http://www.operahouse.gov.eg/operahouse/royal_opera_house.htm History] from the website of the new
Cairo Opera House
* [http://ccsun7.sogang.ac.kr/~burns/auc-cult/auc-opera.html Press release from the Egyptian Cultural Center]
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