Hungarian State Opera House

Budapest · Ungern · Theatre

The cat Vera never left the opera. Night guards see two yellow eyes glowing in the empty hall and hear paws racing along the seat rows. Nobody has ever managed to show her out.

Paris has its phantom, Vienna has one too — and Budapest has a cat. Vera is said to have belonged to one of the opera house's singers, and when her mistress died the animal refused to leave the building. Ever since, night guards and stagehands tell the same story: two yellow eyes glowing in the dark behind the stage, a soft pressure against the leg in an empty box, the sound of paws racing across the upholstered seat rows long after the audience has gone home. Vera never follows anyone out onto Andrássy út. She moves between the orchestra pit, the wings and the boxes, as if still searching for the voice she once fell asleep to. The staff take it calmly. An opera house without a ghost, they say, is hardly an opera house at all. Those who stay behind when the lights go out tend to hear her before they see her, and most choose not to turn around.

FAQ

Where is Hungarian State Opera House located?

Hungarian State Opera House is in Budapest, Ungern.

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