What is Opera house?
[[File:Panorámica interior del Teatro Colón (cropped).jpg|thumb|The inside of the [[Teatro Colón]] opera house in Buenos Aires]] [[File:Teatro-la-fenice-sala.jpg|thumb|The inside of the [[Teatro La Fenice]] opera house in Venice]] An '''opera house''' is a building where [[opera]]s and [[ballet]]s are performed. It is similar to a [[theatre]]. The first opera houses were built in the [[1630s]] in [[Italy]], about thirty years after the first operas were written. Traditionally they have a stage where the action takes place and a proscenium archway with a [[curtain]] that can be drawn back when the performance begins. In front of the stage is an [[orchestra pit]] which is a little lower than the stage so that the audience can still see the stage. The audience sit in the auditorium which is often horse-shoe shaped. The downstairs seats are called “stalls”. Round the stalls there are two or three tiers (storeys) of boxes. Each box can seat a small number of people. At the top towards the back there is a balcony and often a gallery along the sides as well. Some seats in the gallery may have restricted view (it is not possible to see all of the stage). Some of the most famous opera houses in the world are [[Teatro alla Scala]] (or “La Scala”) in [[Milan]], the [[Royal Opera House]] in Covent Garden, [[London]], the [[Metropolitan Opera House]] in [[New York (state)|New York]], the [[War Memorial Opera house]] in [[San Francisco]], the [[Bolshoi Theatre]] in [[Moscow]] and the [[Sydney Opera House]] in [[Sydney]] which is a very modern building. ==Other websites== {{Commonscat|Opera houses}} [[Category:Opera houses| ]]