Take a tour of the Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden has had a difficult history. Originally built in 1732, it was subsequently ravaged by fires in 1808 and 1857. Whilst the current Opera House retains the façade, foyer and auditorium of the 1858 rebuild, almost every other element of the present building dates from an extensive refurbishment in the 1990s.


The current Opera House auditorium is a Grade 1 listed building seating 2,268 people and has four tiers of boxes and balconies and an amphitheatre gallery. The stage has probably played host to some of the finest names in ballet and opera, whose names escape your author.

If you can't face sitting through hours and hours of Opera (or even worse ballet) you can still have a poke around on an official tour. Tours usually Monday to Friday at 10.30am, 12.30pm and 2.30pm, and on Saturdays at 10.30am, 11.30am, 12.30pm and 1.30pm, but this is understandably subject to changes and rehearsals to you should contact them to check. They take about an hour and a half and cost £10.

For more information, see http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/tour.aspx

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