The Romanian National Opera and the Mihai Eminescu National Theatre share the same Renaissance Revival building on Victory Square — a long ornate pile completed in 1875 by the Viennese theatre architects Helmer and Fellner, who built dozens of opera houses across the Habsburg empire. The building was burnt and rebuilt in the late 1920s in a more austere style, then renovated again in the 2000s.
The opera maintains a regular programme of Italian, German and Romanian repertoire from October to June. The theatre runs both Romanian-language and (in a separate hall) Hungarian-language and German-language productions, reflecting the multilingual heritage of the city. Tickets are inexpensive by Western European standards; the upper-balcony seats give an excellent view of the auditorium even if not always of the stage.