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The Copenhagen Opera House
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A planned opera house for Seoul, in Jungji island in the Han River, is expected to cost around W250 billion (US$247 million), the city's mayor said Monday.
Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak, just back from a tour of Europe, said Monday the Opera House in Copenhagen, Denmark, seemed to make the best benchmark for Seoul in terms of location and characteristics. Seoul City will select an architect in an international contest, with construction slated to start early next year.
Critics feared the cost would be nearer W500 billion, but the Seoul Metropolitan Government said considering that prices are 1.5 to two times higher in Denmark than in Korea and that the Copenhagen Opera House was built on an artificial island, the actual amount of money needed would be only around W250 billion.
The Copenhagen Opera House, which opened in January, stands five floors below ground and nine floors above, and was built at a cost of W484.5 billion. It is equipped with latest acoustics and sound technology on an artificial island and is therefore closest to what Seoul City has in mind.
Lee has frequently expressed his ambition to give the city an opera house, but this is the first time he officially announced the plan in some detail. The Seoul Opera House will be built on 36,000 pyeong (120,000 square meters) of land in Jungjido, and will have an outdoor concert space for young people and a world-class opera house on a floor space of 50,000 square meters.
Critics see little sense in building an opera house in a country where opera is neither popular nor particularly well known. They accuse Lee, whose term ends in May next year, of pushing the plan to imprint his ˇ°culture imageˇ± on the city before he completes his tenure.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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