The monumental Düsseldorf Opera House is under threat of demolition under the city plan to replace it with a larger building – “a future architectural and cultural lighthouse project”. This project does not take into account the preservation of the existing Opera House.

Originally built as a municipal theater in 1873-1875, the building was severely damaged in World War II. After temporary repairs, the opera house served as a meeting place for the state parliament of the newly founded state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1946. The building is therefore of particular importance for the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
In 1954-1956 it was converted into a modern opera, concert and ballet house by the architects Paul Bonatz, Julius Schulte-Frohlinde and Ernst Huhn. One of the most important music theaters in West Germany was created as the “German Opera on the Rhine”, and thus an important testimony to the history of the theatre.

Docomomo International supports the preservation of the Düsseldorf Opera House as a historically and architecturally important monument.