Stopera

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

Strollie cannot guarantee access — always check before you travel.

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ReferenceStructurae↗

The Stopera in Amsterdam is a combined city hall and opera house complex designed by Wilhelm Holzbauer and Cees Dam, completed in 1967. Located at a bend of the Amstel River on the reclaimed seventeenth-century plot of Vlooienburg, between Waterlooplein Square and the Zwanenburgwal Canal, the building houses both Amsterdam's municipal government and the Dutch National Opera and Ballet. The structure's name—a portmanteau of "stadhuis" (city hall) and "opera"—originated as a protest slogan that the theatre deliberately rejected for its own communications. Architecturally distinctive, the opera building presents a massive block form with a curved façade facing the river, clad in red-orange brick and corrugated metal panels, while its river-facing curved front is faced with white marble and punctuated by large windows offering panoramic views from interior foyers and multi-level terraces. The complex incorporates a grand café and underground parking, and stands beside the Joods Verzetsmonument, a 1988 memorial to Jewish World War II victims.