The Hanover Opera House (Staatsoper) is the venue for the opera, ballet and concert sections of the Lower Saxony State Theater in Hanover. It was built as the Königliches Hoftheater in the years 1845-1852 in the late classical style on the eastern edge of the old town on the former Wealden sandstone hill. The architect of the opera house was Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves. During the Second World War, the opera house was hit by fire bombs on 26th July 1943 during one of the Allied air raids on Hanover and burned to the ground. After the reconstruction in the historical style (according to the plans of the Hamburg architect Werner Kallmorgen) it was put back into operation on 30rd November 1950 with the performance of Richard Strauss ’Der Rosenkavalier‘. In 2020, the Hanover State Opera won the international “Oper!-Award” for best opera house of the year.