Royal Opera House Did you know...?

Asad Lalljee, CEO of Avid Learning and curator of ROH shares nuggets...

It was inaugurated in 1911 by King George V, and thus is called the ‘Royal’ Opera House. For a city that had, thus far, no world-class theatres, the Opera House—with its baroque architecture, specialized acoustics and stylish interiors—was a monumental addition to the city’s built heritage.

The co-owners Jehangir F. Karaka and Maurice E. Bandmann were a dynamic pair, they built the theatre in Rs.7.5 lakh (at the time) and made it functional in an extraordinarily short span of time of one year (July 1910 to July 1911).

Historic record describes the entrance lobby as “the Palace of Light”. In the finest tradition of opera houses, no expense was spared in creating rich interiors with painted murals on the interiors of the dome, ornate plasterwork, Italian marble and Minton Tile flooring, marble statuary and exquisite crystal chandeliers from David Sassoon’s own mansion - Sans Souci. These original chandeliers have since been restored and hang in our ground floor foyer.

Historically, the auditorium ceiling was designed on the principle of the horn of a gramophone, the ceilings are so devised that they form a long sounding-board high up over the stage. In 1952, the Maharaja of Gondal bought the Opera House under a 999-year lease, and his son, Shri Jyotendrasinhji commissioned its restoration in 2010. You can see the Gondal Royal crest painted onto the curtain above the stage. The doors of the Royal Opera House, which closed on January 18, 1991 reopened 25 years later on October 20, 2016.