The
Khedivial Opera House or
Royal Opera House was the original opera house in
CairoCairo is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab World. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a center of the region's political and cultural life...
,
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
. It was dedicated on November 1, 1869 and burned down on October 28, 1971.
The opera house was built on the orders of the
KhediveThe term Khedive is a title largely equivalent to the English word viceroy. It was first used, without official recognition, by Muhammad Ali Pasha , the Ottoman Wali of Egypt and Sudan...
IsmailIsma'il Pasha , known as Ismail the Magnificent , was Wāli and subsequently Khedive of Egypt and Sudan from 1863 until he was removed at the behest of the British in 1879. While in power he greatly modernized Egypt and Sudan, but also put the country heavily in debt...
to celebrate the opening of the
Suez CanalThe Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened on November 1869, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigating around Africa...
. The architects Pietro Avoscani (from
LivornoLivorno or until recently in English Leghorn , is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno and the third-largest port on the western coast of Italy, having a population of approximately 170,000 residents as of the year...
) and Rossi designed the building. It seated approximately 850 people and was made mostly of wood.
The
Khedivial Opera House or
Royal Opera House was the original opera house in
CairoCairo is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab World. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a center of the region's political and cultural life...
,
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
. It was dedicated on November 1, 1869 and burned down on October 28, 1971.
The opera house was built on the orders of the
KhediveThe term Khedive is a title largely equivalent to the English word viceroy. It was first used, without official recognition, by Muhammad Ali Pasha , the Ottoman Wali of Egypt and Sudan...
IsmailIsma'il Pasha , known as Ismail the Magnificent , was Wāli and subsequently Khedive of Egypt and Sudan from 1863 until he was removed at the behest of the British in 1879. While in power he greatly modernized Egypt and Sudan, but also put the country heavily in debt...
to celebrate the opening of the
Suez CanalThe Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened on November 1869, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigating around Africa...
. The architects Pietro Avoscani (from
LivornoLivorno or until recently in English Leghorn , is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno and the third-largest port on the western coast of Italy, having a population of approximately 170,000 residents as of the year...
) and Rossi designed the building. It seated approximately 850 people and was made mostly of wood. It was located between the districts of
AzbakeyaAzbakeya is one of the districts of Cairo, Egypt which is located in the centre of Cairo, and contains many historically important establishments.One of these is the Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral , which was inaugurated by Pope Mark VIII in 1800...
and Ismailyya in Egypt's capital city.
VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's opera
RigolettoRigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
was chosen as the first opera to be performed at the opera house on November 1, 1869. But already Ismail was planning a far grander exhibition for his new theatre. After months of delay due to the outbreak of the
Franco-Prussian WarThe Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between France and Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria...
, Verdi's new opera,
AidaAida is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
, received its world premiere at the Khedivial Opera House on December 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 by Mohammed 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 HouseThe Cairo Opera House , part of Cairo's National Cultural Center, is the main performing arts venue in the Egyptian capital...
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)
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