The most beautiful opera houses in the world

Opera de Monte Carlo
Located in the principality of Monaco, the Opera de Monte Carlo was opened in 1879. Designed the magnificent and extravagantly, the opera house was recently renovated. Over 80,000 gold leaves were applied to paintings and moldings, a five-ton chandelier has been entirely rebuilt. As it seats only 524, it is often difficult to get tickets. This the only opera house in the world to feature exterior views (thanks to the windows overlooking the Mediterranean) from within the concert space.

Teatro di San Carlo
Located in Naples, this is the oldest opera in Europe that has never closed the door. Opened on 4 November 1737 and then it was the largest in the world with its 3300 seats. Teatro di San Carlo is included in World Heritage by UNESCO.

The Mariinsky Theatre
Opened in 1860, this is pre-eminent theater is located in St. Petersburg, Russia. Named after Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Tsar Alexander II and there is a bust of the Empress in the main entrance foyer. The building was severely damaged during the 900-day Siege of Leningrad, but later restored in 1944. With its marvelous 1,625-seat auditorium it is one of the greatest world class music theatres.

Bavarian State Opera
Built in 1818, Bavarian State Opera is located in Munich and features an impressive exterior and a magnificent interior. Destroyed in World War II it was moved to another place and built in its original form. Re-opened in 1963, the State Opera seats 2,100 people. Today the opera is among the most famous in the world.

Teatro Amazonas
This opera is in the heart of Manaus, deep in the Amazon rain forest of Brazil. Opera House was constructed during the Belle Epoque – the era of rubber that makes Manaus one of the most prosperous cities on the continent. The dome of the opera is covered with 60,000 ceramic tiles imported from France and currently has 701 seats

Romanian Athenaeum
This concert hall is one of the most beautiful buildings in Bucharest. It was built in 1888 in neoclassical style by architect Albert Galeron and considered as one of the architectonical jewellery of Romania. The auditorium (28, 50 m in diameter and 16 m high) having a special acoustics, seats 600 in the stalls and another 52 in loge seating.

Wanderlust Hotel, Singapore

Wanderlust is a left-field and totally experimental boutique hotel set to draw madcap voyagers and curious travellers to its doorstep. Located in Little India district in Singapore, where a bustling cultural enclave where Indian immigrants once settled, and the building was originally an old school built it 1920s. With four thematic levels of 29 rooms by award winning Singapore design agencies, each group was given full creative freedom.

The first level is the Lobby Level – Industrial Glam by Asylum A juxtaposition of the surrounding’s setting and contemporary design. Level 2 is Eccentricity by :phunk Studio. Colours everything from the walls to the neon lights and the rainbow corridor leads to a outdoor deck with a customised mosaic-tiled jacuzzi. Level 3 – Is it just Black and White by DP Architects. Walk across the black corridor and enter into the contrasting white rooms to discover Origami and Pop-Art works. Level 4 – Creature Comforts by fFurious. Get cosy with friendly monsters in each room that presents a different vibe and be assured of a fantasy-filled experience.

The lobby and restaurant Cocotte were done up in a distinctive industrial flair, which provide the perfect setting for the mismatch of furniture from Tom Dixon to Frank Gehry. Cocotte serves up a French menu and has large tables for communal dining, a small detail that very much meshes with the interactive element of traveling. Encouraging social interaction and communal dining, dishes at Cocotte come in sharing portions so guests can enjoy a unique dining experience and sample a variety of scrumptious creations by the chefs. Rooms, which also come with Kiehl’s toiletries and iPod docks, run from $300 to $650 Singaporean dollars.

Haji Lane, Singapore

Haji Lane is a small-scale shopping in Singapore‘s hidden retail destination. Singapore has enormous, glittering shopping malls in and around Orchard Street which are wall-to-wall major-brand retailers, the stuff of a shopaholic’s dream. Anyway for those seeking something more intimate, the indie boutiques on Haji Lane are far from the roaming mall rats. Beautiful boutiques showcase rising Singaporean designers, as well as other designers from Asia and beyond, lining a narrow, backstreet of the tranquil Kampong Glam area – also known as the Arab district.

Don’t miss stores on the second floors of the charming shophouses; look out for mysterious flights of stairs through doorways at street level because you might just find find a new little world at the top of them. United Label is a wonderful shop, a womenswear brand by a Thai designer living in Singapore, as well as a selection of adorable stationery culled from around Asia. Near the entryway a staircase leads to a floor stocked with clothes from different labels. There are a few racks of items that have been majorly discounted, while others are dedicated to items like delicate, screen-printed tees.

At one end of Haji Lane is Soon Lee (no. 73), which stocks a mix of chic womenswear, accessories and lifestyle items from Hong Kong, Korea and even the Philippines. The boutique’s size (basically two shophouses combined into one) gives way to a large selection for browsing. Balancing out the shopping element, a few cafes and rest stops provide a place for breaks. A Thousand Tales (no. 55) is an all-in-one art gallery, cafe, bar, restaurant and furniture complex. While the menu next door at Bar Stories (no. 57A) sells drinks like mojitos and caipirinhas, visitors are invited to ask the bartender to make something special for them. The Scandinavian-inspired furniture is used as seating for patrons, who can buy it right there if they like it enough.

Pluck (no. 31/33) focuses more on housewares, but the cafe inside offers a revolving selection of homemade ice cream in a variety of flavors. The standouts are the Asian-inspired flavors, such as green tea with red beans or cashew-infused yogurt. There are also flavors made with alcohol, like the refreshing lychee martini.

Museum aan de Stroom

The MAS is an impressive building with a museum, among other things. Because it is also the visible storage, the museum square with Luc Tuymans’ mosaic, the boulevard, the rooftop panorama, etc. The MAS is a total experience. Nowdays, Antwerp has its own iconic piece of museum architecture and it’s poised to make the medieval Flemish town a global destination. The Museum aan de Stroom opened last weekend to an estimated 100,000 visitors, including the Belgian royal family.

The MAS brings together the collections from the former Etnografisch Museum, the Nationaal Scheepvaartmuseum and the Volkskundemuseum. They are given a new home in the MAS along with part of the Vleeshuis Museum collection and the Paul and Dora Janssen-Arts collection. The collections are spread over four floors and are not displayed side by side. The pieces are connected through a dynamic scenography on the different floors. They don’t just impart information. They tell stories, they endure, they are actors in an ever-changing play.

Once Antwerp was a harbor village with a massive port more than seven times the size of its commercial center. In the 1600s, the city was the seat of the Dutch superpower, establishing the nation’s merchant status for centuries to come. Today, Antwerp belongs to Belgium and it’s still a city defined by its watery borders. And it’s there, just off the River Scheldt between the historic city center and the up-and-coming industrial neighborhood het Eilandje, that the MAS Museum steps into its starring role.

With this museum, Antwerp got a a striking ten-story monolith of stacked boxes in alternating red Indian limestone and undulating glass. The architects, Neutelings Riedijk from Rotterdam, rotated each level 90 degrees, allowing the escalators to ascend around the perimeter of the museum. The effect is a moving viewing platform affording wraparound views of the city, from the Gothic Cathedral of Our Lady to the domed Centraal Station to the grittier docklands and warehouses in the immediate vicinity of MAS.

The Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas

The Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas is the main Campus of the Central University of Venezuela. Designed by the Venezuelan architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva between 1940 and 1960 it is an outstanding example of the modern avant-garde ideas in architecture.

Consists of forty buildings in nine groups or zones, this vast urban complex covers an area of about 2 km². The complex also includes masterpieces of visual arts, like the “Clouds” of Alexander Calder, the Olympic Stadium, and the Covered Plaza.

Considered a masterpiece of architecture and urban planning it is one of the most successful applications of Modern Architecture in Latin America. This is also the only university campus declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (in 2000).

Tang Palace

The Tang Palace Restaurant is a stunning contemporary restaurant designed by Beijing-based design firm FCJC. It is located in the new town area of Hangzhou, China. If you like bamboo-covered interiors, then this is the ideal place to go for great food and a creative atmosphere.

The designers used a limited pallet of bamboo material to create a unique design theme of combining tradition and modernity. The interior is enclosed by a flowing grid of bamboo strands that bring the 9 meter-tall room down to human scale. If you are looking for a more intimate meal, the restaurant also features private rooms.

Project: Tang Palace, Hangzhou, China

Location: Jianggan District, Hangzhou, China

Area: 2, 460 m2

Materials: Bamboo, Composite Panel, Rubbed Concrete

Design Team: Yu Yue, Wu Xia, Suiming Wang

Construction Period: February 2010–July 2010

Plovdiv Art

The Red Pony Art Gallery, established by Atanas Krastev in 1989 is the first private art gallery in Bulgaria. For the last 20 years the gallery has often been a kind host of the art exhibitions and numerous Bulgarian and foreign artists. In 1969 Atanas Krastev organized the Ancient Plovdiv Association and till 1986 he managed, restored and developed the Ancient Plovdiv Architectural and Historic Reserve.

The Gallery of Association of the Plovdiv Painters was built in 1975 and is the biggest in the town. It is situated on 400 m² and has a lantern-light (Oberlicht). It is managed by a private association of professional Plovdiv painters. There is always free entrance for the exhibitions organized in the gallery.
Representative Permanent Exposition
The exposition is located in the building of the High Scholl for Young Girls, built in 1881 after the design of architect Josif Schnitter. It represents the result of the four-year work of a highly qualified art experts’ team. It includes more than 200 original works of art that follow out the development of Bulgarian fine art from the time of the National revival to the present day.