The Semperoper (Engl: Semper Opera House) or Saxon State Opera Dresden (Ger: Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden) is an opera house in Dresden, Germany, and is one of the most famous in the world. It was first built in 1841, by architect Gottfried Semper, in the Early Renaissance style. It had to be rebuilt after a fire destroyed it in 1869. The citizenry demanded that Gottfried Semper do the reconstruction, even though he was in exile at the time because of his activities in the May Uprising in Dresden in 1849.
The building is considered to be a prime example of "Dresden-Baroque" architecture. It is situated on the Theater Square in central Dresden on the bank of the Elbe River. On top of the portal there is a Panther quadriga with a statue of Dionysos. The interior was created by such famous architects of the time as Johannes Schilling. Monuments on the portal depict famous artists such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller, William Shakespeare, Sophocles, Molière and Euripides. The building also features work by Ernst Rietschel and Ernst Julius Hähnel. |