The Stopera is a building complex in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, housing both the

city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

of Amsterdam and the Dutch National Opera and Ballet, the principal

opera house An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets. While some venues are constructed specifically fo ...

in Amsterdam that is home of

Dutch National Opera The Dutch National Opera (DNO; formerly De Nederlandse Opera, now De Nationale Opera in Dutch) is a Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its present home base is the Dutch National Opera & Ballet housed in the Stopera building, ...

, Dutch National Ballet and

Holland Symfonia Het Balletorkest (literal translation, ''The Ballet Orchestra'') is a Dutch symphony orchestra, based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, affiliated with Het Nationale Ballet and the Nederlands Dans Theater. In 1965, the ''Nederlands Balletorkest'' (Nethe ...

. The building was designed by

Wilhelm Holzbauer Wilhelm Holzbauer (3 September 1930 – 15 June 2019) was an Austrian architect, noted as a "pragmatic" modernist. He was a student of Clemens Holzmeister at the Vienna University of Technology between 1950 and 1953. In 1956–57, he studied at t ...

and Cees Dam. The name is an abbreviation of the protest slogan "Stop the Opera" and not a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordscity hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

") and ''"opera"'' as is often claimed. Because the word 'Stopera' was a name for the protests against the building, the theater has never used this name in their communication. The Stopera is located in the center of Amsterdam at a bend of the

Amstel The Amstel () is a river in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. It flows from the Aarkanaal and Drecht in Nieuwveen northwards, passing Uithoorn, Amstelveen, and Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, to the IJ in Amsterdam. Annually, the ri ...

River between Waterlooplein Square and the

Zwanenburgwal The Zwanenburgwal is a canal and street in the center of Amsterdam. During the Dutch Golden Age the canal was home to painter Rembrandt van Rijn, as well as philosopher Spinoza lived here. In 2006 it was voted one of the most beautiful streets ...

Canal, on a plot of land called ''Vlooienburg'', which was reclaimed in the 16th century. The opera house building is shaped like a huge, massive block, with a curved front facing the city. Its facade is covered in a red-orange brick and corrugated metal panels. The curved face of the theatre is faced with white marble punctuated by large windows that provide panoramic views of the river from the curved interior foyers and multi-level terraces. Next to the Stopera is the Joods Verzetsmonument, a 1988 monument to the Jewish victims of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. A remembrance of the

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation fro ...

is held at the monument every year.

History

The construction of the Stopera was at least 60 years in the making. As early as 1915, discussions were held about building a new opera house as well as a new city hall. Various sites were considered for the new city hall, until they finally chose an expansive area of the Jewish district which had been largely abandoned during the late 1940s as its occupants were deported to concentration camps. The Amsterdam city council established a commission in 1955 to create a design with the architectural firm of Berghoef and Vegter. After almost ten years, the council rejected their final proposal in 1964 and held a competition in 1967 for a new design. The council selected a design by Viennese architect

. However, plans for the new city hall were delayed again by budget constraints, as were the opera house plans. In 1979, it was proposed that the city hall and opera house should be combined into one complex. The opera and the Dutch National Ballet would have a shared performance space. In 1980 the Amsterdam city council approved the new design by Cees Dam and Wilhelm Holzbauer. Approval from the provincial and national governments followed in 1981. The Stopera was a controversial project that met with heavy protests, particularly from the local counterculture and leftwing groups like the squatter movement and Provo movement, leading to riots when construction began in 1982. The project went seriously over budget and the final cost was 112 million

Dutch guilder The guilder ( nl, gulden, ) or florin was the currency of the Netherlands from the 15th century until 2002, when it was replaced by the euro. The Dutch name ''gulden'' was a Middle Dutch adjective meaning "golden", and reflects the fact that, ...

s more than originally budgeted. The opera officially opened on 23 September 1986; the new city hall opened two years later.

History

References

Further reading