Drottningholm Palace Theatre, Opera house at Royal Domain of Drottningholm, Sweden
Drottningholm Palace Theatre is an opera house within a royal domain in Sweden, built in the late 1700s. The hall features an unusual T-shaped layout and preserves original stage machinery with a chariot-and-pole system for scene changes, along with wooden seating arranged for court members.
The first theatre on the site, built in 1754, burned down on 25 or 27 August 1762 during a performance. Queen Lovisa Ulrika commissioned Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz to rebuild on the same spot; construction began in 1764 and the theatre was inspected by the royal family on 8 July 1766, opening the next day with Crébillon's Rhadamiste et Zénobie. The first opera, Lully and Uttini's Psyché, followed on 28 October 1766.
The interior decoration by Adrien Masreliez uses trompe-l'oeil, papier-mâché and stucco to imitate marble and gold on a limited budget. The auditorium is T-shaped, with thrones for the monarchs placed in the cross of the T in front of the stage, while the rest of the court sat on wooden benches. Since 1951 the Royal Swedish Opera has been the permanent company for summer performances.
The venue is most active during warmer months and offers guided tours for visitors wanting to explore the building. Plan your visit for spring and summer when activities and tours are most frequently available.
The theatre preserves its original 18th-century stage system with working chariots and poles that allowed scene changes without modern technology. This mechanical system stands among the few still-intact examples of its kind in Europe.
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