The Semperoper is the opera house of the Saxon State Opera and the concert hall of the Saxon State Orchestra.
The opera house was built by Gottfried Semper in 1841. After a devastating fire in 1869, it was rebuilt by 1878.
The opera house has a long history of premieres, incl. works by Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss and Carl Maria von Weber.

In 1945, it was destroyed by bombing and the subsequent firestorm.
Exactly 40 years later, on February 13, 1985, the opera's almost identical reconstruction was completed.
When the Elbe flooded in 2002, the building suffered heavy water damage. With substantial help from around the world, it reopened in December that year.

See original for best view