Opernhaus Wuppertal

The Opernhaus Wuppertal stands in the centre of Wuppertal-Barmen, a town in North Rhine-Westphalia. The building was designed by Carl Moritz and completed in 1907 as the Stadttheater Barmen. It mixes neo-Baroque and Jugendstil details in its architecture. During the Second World War an air raid on 30 May 1943 destroyed the auditorium and damaged the stage. After the war it was rebuilt between 1954 and 1956 and reopened in October 1956 with Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler. The house is run by the municipal Wuppertaler Bühnen and hosts opera, plays and dance. It is the home of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, whose productions include Frühlingsopfer on a soil-covered stage and Café Müller with dancers moving among tables. The opera house has premiered works by Boris Blacher, Volker David Kirchner and Krzysztof Meyer. It also revives neglected operas such as Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse and Schubert’s Fierrabras. Inside, the auditorium seats a large audience and the stage is equipped for complex productions. The building is protected as an architectural monument since 1989. Visitors can reach it easily by the Wuppertal Suspension Railway and Wuppertal-Barmen station. The surrounding area offers shops, cafés and the nearby Barmen market square.