Romanian National Opera, Timișoara

The Romanian National Opera, Timișoara (Romanian: Opera Națională Română din Timișoara) is a public opera and ballet institution in Timișoara, Romania. It is one of the national opera companies of Romania. The Opera shares the same building with the Mihai Eminescu National Theatre in Timișoara.

Romanian National Opera
General information
Town or city	Timișoara
Country	Romania
Construction started	1871
Completed	1875
Design and construction
Architect	Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer (1871) Duiliu Marcu (1923)

Exterior of the Opera House

The first performance at the Timișoara Opera was on 27 April 1875, the inaugural concert being Aida by Giuseppe Verdi.[1]

On April 20, 1880 the building was devastated by a fire. The theatre went bankrupt and was bought by the authorities. Since investments were insufficient, individual funds were needed for reconstruction. The government offered "eternal" property for over twenty lodges, with the right of inheritance. Later, in agreement with the owners, these lodges were redeemed. The reconstruction, completed in 1882, kept the original Renaissance style of the façade.

After a second fire, which took place in 1920, only the lateral wings remained intact. The reconstruction of the building began on July 15, 1923, by architect Duiliu Marcu.

On December 20, 1989, during the Romanian Revolution, a crowd of 40,000 gathered in the open space in front of the opera house. Some managed to enter the building through the rear, and a succession of figures representing factories and ethnic groups delivered speeches from the balcony. From that point, the revolutionaries controlled the opera and surrounding square, although representatives of the Ceaușescu regime briefly continued to hold the county council building.[2]