Polish National Opera

Opera was brought to Poland just thirty years after it first appeared in Florence, by Royal Prince Ladislaus IV Vasa. In 1628 he invited the first Italian opera troupe to Warsaw.For over 170 years the Teatr Wielki has been Poland’s grandest opera and ballet theatre. It was built in 1825–1833 to a design by the Italian architect Antonio Corazzi of Livorno.The building was converted several times. It was bombed during the siege of Warsaw in 1939 and almost completely ruined. Only the original classicist façade survived.