Editing Vienna State Opera (section)

====Construction====
The opera house was the first major building on the Vienna [[Ringstrasse]] commissioned by the Viennese "city expansion fund". Work commenced on the house in 1861 and was completed in 1869, following plans drawn up by architects [[August Sicard von Sicardsburg]] and [[Eduard van der Nüll]]. It was built in the [[Neo-Renaissance]] style by the Czech architect and contractor [[Josef Hlávka]].

[[File:Hofoper 1869-05-25 Don-Juan.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Play bill for the opening performance of the new ''Opernhaus'', announcing the opening performance of ''[[Don Giovanni]]'' on 25 May 1869]]
[[File:Wiener Hofoper 1869.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Coeval watercolour painting of the opening performance ([[Kunsthistorisches Museum]])]]

The Ministry of the Interior had commissioned a number of reports into the availability of certain building materials, with the result that stones long not seen in Vienna were used, such as [[Wöllersdorf-Steinabrückl|Wöllersdorfer]] Stein, for plinths and free-standing, simply-divided buttresses<!--not sure of this word - dictionary gives "staves" (archaic)-->, the famously hard stone from [[Kaisersteinbruch]], whose colour was more appropriate than that of [[Kelheim]]erstein, for more lushly decorated parts. The somewhat coarser-grained Kelheimerstein (also known as [[Solnhof]] Plattenstein) was intended as the main stone to be used in the building of the opera house, but the necessary quantity was not deliverable. [[Breitenbrunn, Austria|Breitenbrunner]] stone was suggested as a substitute for the Kelheimer stone, and stone from [[Jois]] was used as a cheaper alternative to the Kaiserstein. The staircases were constructed from polished Kaiserstein, while most of the rest of the interior was decorated with varieties of [[marble]].

[[File:Staatsoper (ca.1898).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The ''Hofoper'', {{Circa|1898}}]]

The decision was made to use [[dimension stone]] for the exterior of the building. Due to the monumental demand for stone, stone from [[Sóskút]], widely used in [[Budapest]], was also used. Three Viennese masonry companies were employed to supply enough masonry labour: Eduard Hauser (still in existence today), Anton Wasserburger and Moritz Pranter. The foundation stone was laid on 20 May 1863.