Hanoi Opera House, taken in the early 20th century, from rue Paul Bert (now Trang Tien street).Opera Garnier Paris , the model for the Hanoi Opera House

It was modeled on the Palais Garnier, the older of Paris's two opera houses, and is considered to be one of the architectural landmarks of Hanoi. After the departure of the French the opera house became the scene for several political events as well as the scene of street fighting during the fight for Hanoi.

The Hanoi Opera House provides the name for the nearby Hilton Hanoi Opera Hotel which opened in 1999 and which, for historical reasons associated with the Vietnam War, was not named the Hanoi Hilton.

Any tourist who is interested in the eventful four-thousand-year history of Vietnam should not miss out on.

Address:1 Trang Tien - Hoan Kiem - Ha Noi- VietNam

Opening hours: Monday- Friday, 8:00 – 23:00

The Opera Company:

Colonial period

The opera house is described in the memoirs of Blanche Arral who performed in the new Hanoi Opera House in 1902 while waiting for the 1902 Exposition of Hanoi to open.The opera had depended on touring artists performing French and Italian repertoire during the colonial period for a mainly French audience.

The Vietnam National Opera and Ballet (VNOB)

After the departure of the French the building was used for Vietamese plays and musicals. The return of Western opera, and the first major non-French or Italian opera

The Opera has seen many premieres of operas and musicals by Vietnamese composers. The operas of Đỗ Nhuận - Cô Sao ('Miss Sao') 1965, Người tạc tượng ('The Sculptor') 1971 and Nguyễn Trãi 1980, the works of Lưu Hữu Phước and the choral works of film composer Đặng Hữu Phúc. As well as works by returning emigre composers such as Nguyễn Thiên Đạo, a pupil of Messiaen in Paris.

Ballet is also part of the Opera House company - and stages Western classics such as Swan Lake as well as traditional and modern Vietnamese dance productions.

 More information about Hanoi Opera House can be found on the Hanoi Opera House Page