After a walk through the Turia park or when you visit the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias you see the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia. This building is also known as the Opera building, because there are many opera performances. As well the outside as the inside are beautiful to see. Read more about Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia at this page.
About the building
The designer of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia is Santiago Calatrava. The construction started in 1995 and took ten years; in 2005 the building was accessible for public. It’s not strange that construction took ten years. The walls of the main hall are covered with dark blue mosaic. You can imagine that this was not done in a few days… And you probably think that this mosaic is bad for the acoustics, but on the contrary the sound is amazing, because of the undulating movement. Several other halls are covered with wood, with also amazing acoustic. Nowadays the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia is one of the most iconic buildings of the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias.
Other materials that have been used in this building are mostly white concrete, glass and metal. Unfortunately, the government decided to remove the mosaic from the building, because they were falling of the Opera building. It was too dangerous! This happened in 2012 and in 2014 they started with reconstructing the roof. But this was not the only construction mistake, in Sala Principal (the main hall) a grandstand collapsed and in 2007 this hall flooded a few times.
You probably already noticed that the Opera building is huge. It is 75 metres high and has a surface of 40.000 square meters. On the inside are four halls for opera, music, ballet and theatre, each on different floors. Each floor has its own style and there is also a big garden.
A funny thing is that opinions are divided about what the building looks like. Some people see a bird; other people see a ship or a helmet. What do you see? One thing is for sure; the building looks extraordinary!
The inside of the building
In total there are four halls in Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, which are:
Sala Principal
The biggest hall in the Opera building is the main hall with 1.470 seats. In fact, this is the Opera hall, but there are also other performances. In this hall there can be two operas at the same time. There are four balconies and in the orchestra pit is place for 120 musicians. This is the third biggest orchestra pit in the world.
Auditorio
This hall is above Sala Principal and is used for concerts. There are seats for 1.420 people.
Aula Magistral
With 400 seats this hall is one of the smaller ones. The AulaMagistral is used for chamber music.
Martin y Soler Theatre
This hall is also a ‘small’ one with 400 seats and is used for operettas, theatre productions and for preparations for productions.
Order tickets
There are frequently performances in Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia. There are a few options to orders tickets:
Ticket booth
Time schedule:
Monday, Wednesday and Friday: 10.00-14.30
Tuesday and Thursday: 10.00-19.00
At Monday, Wednesday and Friday the ticket booth opens tree hours before the performance starts and op Saturday, Sunday and holidays two hours before the performance.
By phone
Phone number: +34 902 202 383
Time schedule:
Monday, Wednesday and Friday: 10.30-14.30
Tuesday and Thursday: 10.30-18.00
Other ways to order tickets by phone:
Instant ticket: 902 444 300
Ticketmaster: 902 150 025
Website
You can also order you tickets at the website of Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia. You can also see the schedule of performances.
Prices
It depends on which performance you are going to and with seat you are going to sit on. Prices will differ from €10,00 to €140,00.
Tour Opera building
There is also the possibility to see the inside of the building by joining a tour. It is a one-hour during tour in English language.
Time schedule
Monday to Saturday: 10.45, 12.00, 13.30, 15.45 and 17.00
Sunday: 10.45, 12.00 and 13.30
Prices
Regular: €10,60
Kids (5-12 years old) and seniors (65+): €8,10
Tip
Two hours before the performance starts you can get 50% discount! Keep in mind that, if you are with more people, you probably will not sit next to each other and the performance could be sold out.
