day-3-chapter-2-city-of-westminster

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The current building is the third theatre on the site, following disastrous fires in 1808 and 1856 to previous buildings. The facade, foyer, and auditorium date from 1858, but almost every other element of the present complex dates from an extensive reconstruction in the 1990s. The main auditorium seats 2256 people, making it the third largest in London, and consists of four tiers of boxes and balconies and the amphitheatre gallery. At the time no-one would think that in October 2020, the BBC would report that the Royal Opera House would have lost 60 percent of its income as a result of restrictions implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a consequence, the 1971 "Portrait of Sir David Webster" by David Hockney, which had hung in the opera house for several decades, would be put up for auction at Christy's and eventually would be for 12.8 million GBP to simply ensure the survival of the institution.

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