Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House stands in Covent Garden, central London. The building occupies the site of an old convent garden, once part of Inigo Jones’s 17th-century piazza and church. Its first theatre opened in 1732 as the Theatre Royal, serving London’s spoken drama under a royal patent. George Frideric Handel began opera seasons there in 1734, composing works like Alcina for the stage. The theatre burned in 1808 and again in 1856, leading to the present building. The façade and auditorium survive from 1858, though most of the complex was rebuilt in the 1990s. The house is home to The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. These companies were rebranded in 2024 under the single name Royal Ballet and Opera. Handel’s organ once stood on the stage until the 1808 fire. The auditorium seats 2,256 and is Grade I listed, with four tiers of boxes and a wide proscenium. Performances have included Handel’s Messiah and ballets like Pygmalion, where Marie Sallé danced without a corset. Visitors enter a grand foyer with sweeping staircases and gilded details. The main auditorium reveals crimson velvet, ornate plasterwork and a painted ceiling showing The Muses presenting Shakespeare to Apollo. The stage measures 14.80 metres wide and 12.20 metres high, deep enough for large productions. Behind the scenes, rehearsal rooms and workshops support daily performances. Outside, Covent Garden’s market square adds cafés and street life to the visit.