The State Opera Prague was founded in 1888 as the New German Theatre

Prague – The finale of the second act of Ludwig van Beethoven's opera Fidelio, Heil sei dem Tag, concluded the festive concert on January 5th last year to mark the reopening of the historic building of the National Theatre Opera in Prague. Its reconstruction cost 1.3 billion crowns and took almost three years. The opening concert titled The National Opera in the Transformations of Time (1888-2018), directed by Alice Nellis, began with the overture to Richard Wagner's opera Die Meistersingern von Nürnberg. This Wagner work was premiered here in 1888. The opera gala took place 132 years after the first opening of the National Opera, then called the New German Theatre.

The building, which now houses the National Opera - one of four stages of the National Theatre since 2012 - was constructed at the end of the 19th century by the Prague German Theatre Society. The majestic theatre, now squeezed between two streams of the north-south boulevard, is a typical example of the architecture of the Viennese builders Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, who also collaborated with the author of the Vienna Burgtheater, Karl Hasenauer. The New German Theatre (Neues Deutsches Theater) welcomed its first audience on January 5, 1888. The theatre quickly established itself as a cultural institution of international significance.

After World War II, the building was assigned to the newly established Theatre of May 5, whose opera section already presented Smetana's opera The Barbarians in Bohemia here in September 1945. However, the theatre, which from 1946 operated as an independent Great Opera of May 5, did not survive the year 1948, when it was transferred under the National Theatre (ND). "The National Theatre could not digest this morsel for 40 years,” commented the merger in 1990 by then-director of ND Jindřich Černý. In the building, renamed to Smetana Theatre, major operatic and ballet titles from the world repertoire were performed, and many foreign companies also hosted here. At the turn of the 60s and 70s, the theatre underwent a major reconstruction.

A new era for the National Opera began in 1992 when the local opera (and also ballet) ensemble became independent and, under its own direction and with its own dramaturgy, became a strong competitor to the opera of the National Theatre. The prestige of the National Opera in Prague was also enhanced by the revival of the tradition of Balls in the Opera, the first of which took place in February 1992 still under the auspices of the ND. The two-decade era ended at the beginning of 2012 when, despite protests from some artists and the public, the National Opera rejoined the National Theatre.

In July 2016, the opera closed for extensive reconstruction, which began in March 2017. The original estimate of the reconstruction costs was approximately 900 million crowns, but the price rose to 1.3 billion crowns including VAT. The main reasons were the change in stage revolving technology for 115 million and the reconstruction of air conditioning. During the general reconstruction, the building received new stage technologies and modern rehearsal rooms. Repairs have also been completed for the ballet, orchestral, and choral halls and the artists' facilities. New seats have been added, which now feature individual subtitling devices, and the curtain is also new.