Alte Oper Frankfurt

Frankfurt’s old opera house was designed by the Berlin architect Richard Lucae and opened on 20 October 1880, paid for in large part by the city’s citizens. Air raids in 1944 gutted it, and for decades the ruin was known as “Germany’s most beautiful ruin”. A citizens’ initiative raised money to rebuild it, and on 28 August 1981 it reopened behind the restored façade as a concert and congress centre, with Mahler’s Eighth Symphony under Michael Gielen. Inside are the large Großer Saal and the smaller Mozart Saal. Opera had moved to a new house after the war, so the Alte Oper now hosts touring orchestras and soloists; the Berliner Philharmoniker are among the visiting orchestras that play there on tour.