Operaen

 

Operaen, Copenhagen's state-of-the-art new opera house, designed by Henning Larsen, situated on  Holmen island,  opened in 2005.

The building is dominated by the immense slab of 158-metre-long floating roof, which extends 32m beyond

the orb-like foyer.

The front of the opera was originally meant to have a large glass surface where you could see the shell of the auditorium from the harbour side. However, it was felt that glass does not age well, so the front was changed to have a metal grid in front of it.

In the central part of the foyer are three remarkable lamps, which you can just see through the glass, created by Olafur Eliasson.

The building was closed when we visited so unfortunately, we were not able to go inside. In fact, the whole place was totally deserted and we did not see one single soul the whole time we were there.

The building has an outside surface of Jura Gelb limestone.

Canals have been dug to make the Opera look as if it were placed on an island, just a bit larger than the building itself. This also meant that bridges were needed, and these bridges were made using very old oak that was planted in the 19th century for the purpose of growing trees for a new national fleet, after having lost the old fleet to the Royal Navy after their bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807.

On one side of the Opera is the canal with delightful houses all along

very pretty.