The present opera house on Augustusplatz, opened in 1960 as the only new opera house in the GDR and now a listed building, captivates as a closed Gesamtkunstwerk of architecture and interior design of the 50s. The trapezoidal auditorium in the form of a Einrangtheaters offers 1273 seats. It impresses with its excellent acoustics. From every seat there are excellent viewing possibilities.
The architects Kunz Nierade and Kurt Hemmerling were commissioned in 1954 to build the new Opera House on Augustusplatz. The facade is made of bright Pirnaer sandstone. It has a 350-meter long attic shelf. Above the ground floor windows is a bas-relief depicting theater symbols and state emblems of the GDR. The entrance area consists of a two-story simple loggia. The house has the shape of a step pyramid in the dimensions 115 x 85 meters; from the foundation to the top, there are 52 meters in seven floors. The building appears sober by day. At night, when everything is enlightened, the house looks festive and glassy through the large window fronts. Today, the Leipzig Opera House in Germany is one of the most beautiful buildings of the architectural style of the late 50s.
Characteristic of the interior is the increased space of the foyers. You enter the opera through the vestibule, the ticket hall, which is decorated with blue-black Diabasfußboden and which is kept low as the adjoining cloakroom. The walls are partially covered with handcrafted tiles from Meissen porcelain. Then you get to the bright, double-flighted main and parquet stairs. The brass handrails, staircase railings forged by Fritz Kühn, the color of the walls, the wall lights, ornaments made of gold leaf and the burgundy carpet are typical of the period of construction. The color selection consists mainly of the components white gold, gold and maroon. The walls and the square pillars of the parquet foyer are clad with Swiss pear trees. The polychrome ceiling is partly made up of figural and partly painted ornaments and stands in contrast to the strict wall structure. The concert foyer in the rank is held in discreet pastel colors. Round pillars divide the room in half. On the side of both foyers there are two refreshment rooms each.
