70. Anniversary of the reopening
The House |
The current season of the Vienna State Opera is a very special one: November 5 marks the 70th anniversary of the reopening of the Vienna State Opera after its destruction in the final weeks of the Second World War.
This fall, the opera house on the Ring will be exploring not only the themes of destruction, reconstruction and reopening in a variety of ways, but also the historical events that led to the destruction and the role that the opera played in it. The debate will take place on several levels - starting with the "Opera Air" in the Burggarten at the beginning of the season and ending with the Fidelio premiere in December.
Exhibition: Destruction and reconstruction
5. November 2025 until the end of January 2026
From November 5, an exhibition will be on display in the balcony walkway, giving visitors to the Vienna State Opera the opportunity to experience aspects of the decade of reconstruction in photos and exhibited objects. Here, too, the narrative spans from the destruction of the building to its reopening, with short texts contextualizing what is on display. The exhibition is open to all visitors before the performances and during the intermissions until the end of January.
In the palace of self-invention
To mark the 70th anniversary of the reopening of the Vienna State Opera, Molden Verlag is publishing the book "Im Palast der Selbsterfindung", which spans the period from the destruction of the opera house to the 1955 Opera Festival. The reconstruction phase was not only an emotional, but also a political, central theme of the young Second Republic and its search for a new identity.
The reopening of the opera was far more than just an extraordinary evening of opera: it was the epitome of a new beginning, with all its hopes, desires and, unfortunately, repressions, denials and perseverances. Essays on this piece of contemporary history in all its facets as well as a large number of rarely shown photographs retell the decade of reconstruction in the mirror of the parallel ruptures and continuities.
The texts range from the frightening prehistory from 1938 onwards to questions about the history of identity and the "myth of the State Opera" to the architecture of the rebuilt house and ominous continuities in the person of artists such as Karl Böhm or Rudolf Eisenmenger and the repertoire policy from 1945 to 1955. With contributions by Gerald Heidegger, Oliver Rathkolb, Anna Stuhlpfarrer, Sabine Plakolm-Forsthuber, Iris Frey, Andreas Láng and Oliver Láng as well as Susana Zapke.
The book will be available from November 7, 2025 in selected specialist shops and in the opera itself (at Hamtil & Söhne under the arcades on Herbert-von-Karajan-Platz).
Further information on the publisher's website.