Copenhagen’s Opera House is hard to miss. The immense building measures some 440,000 square feet and presides over the harbor from its position on the island of Holmen, across the water from the palace at Amalienborg. Completed in 2004, it was designed by Danish architect Henning Larsen, and thanks to a generous benefactor, no expense was spared: Jura limestone, Italian marble, even oak from a grove of 19th-century trees are just a few of the materials used, and the walls are lined with works by contemporary Danish artists. (Final construction costs totaled more than $500 million, making it is the most expensive opera house ever built.) Fortunately, tickets to the main stage and the experimental Takkelloftet theatre are not always limited to the very rich. Occasional last-minute bargains are available, especially if you sit in the nosebleed section, and state-of-the-art acoustics ensure that the sound there is every bit as good as it is on the main floor.
The Copenhagen Opera House totals 41,000 square metres. Five of the fourteen storeys are subterranean. The main stage of the opera seats an audience of 1400. The Opera House is clad with southern German Jura Gelb limestone, and the foyer features Sicilian Perlatino marble. The wall of the auditorium facing the foyer is clad with maple wood, and the ceiling in the main auditorium is adorned with 105,000 sheets of 24 carat gold leaf, equivalent to 1.5 kilos of gold. The Copenhagen Opera House is designed by Danish architect Henning Larsen, and a number of Danish artists have contributed to the decor, among them Per Kirkeby who has created four bronze reliefs, and Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson who has contributed the three light sculptures for the foyer.
Wonderful Copenhagen
