Famous Opera Houses Around the World

The world's great opera houses, mostly seen from the inside, where the gilded horseshoes, painted ceilings and stage curtains are. Every house here was built for opera, still stages it, and earns its place through history, architecture or the sound of the room: the oldest working theaters, the stages where Mozart, Verdi, Wagner and Strauss had their premieres, and the modern buildings that changed what an opera house can look like. The gallery runs roughly in order of opening, from Naples in 1737 to Muscat in 2011. Many of these houses burned or were bombed and rebuilt, and each caption says when. Concert halls and rock venues are left out; they belong to other galleries.