After 120 Years, Norway Gets Opera House

King Harald V opened Norway's long-awaited national opera house on the shores of the Oslo Fjord on Saturday, kicking off a gala performance before royalty, national leaders and music lovers.

The Nordic nation's newest landmark, a stunning $840 million building of white marble on the water's edge, fulfills a more than 120-year dream for Norwegian music fans used to watching the Norwegian Opera and Ballet in old downtown theaters.

''At the innermost part of the Oslo Fjord, the opera house rises as a new and monumental landmark,'' King Harald said from his opera box in the spacious auditorium, as he pronounced the opera house open.

''This house for many generations to come will be filled with music, dance and song.''

The Norwegian parliament's decision to approve construction and funding of a national opera house belatedly confirmed an overly optimistic 1881 report in an Oslo newspaper that the capital was about to get a new opera house.

Funding problems and political debates contributed to the long delay.

A two-and-a-half hour opening performance featured highlights from various operas and ballets before an audience that included Norway's Queen Sonja, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Danish Queen Margrethe and about 1,350 other invited guests.

Iceland's President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson and Finland's President Tarja Halonen were also present.

The opera house is made of a white stone that seems to rise from the water of the fjord. It holds roughly 1,000 rooms, including a 1,350-seat and a 400-seat auditorium. The inside is lined with crafted woodwork, and decorated with art worth about $12 million.

''This is a building that will change the way the world sees us, and the way we see ourselves,'' opera director Bjoern Simonsen said.

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