Cardiff Bay Opera House
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Cardiff Bay Opera House was an ill-fated project in the 1990s in Cardiff, Wales, conceived as a crucial part of the Cardiff Bay redevelopment project, one aim being the creation of a new home for the Welsh National Opera company, which was then based in Cardiff's small and unsuitable "New Theatre".
An international design competition, held in 1994, was won by Iraq-born architect Zaha Hadid. At this point the project descended into chaos.[citation needed] It lacked support from either South Glamorgan County Council or Cardiff City Council and was savaged by the media as being "elitist". The Millennium Commission, which gave funding to such projects from the UK National Lottery, refused to fund the project as it considered it to be financially risky. This was not helped by the successful application for funding for the Millennium Stadium, just a few miles away. Eventually, the project collapsed.
This was an important moment in the redevelopment programme. It was devastating for Wales' international image, with "Cardiff Bay" becoming a euphemism in architectural and cultural circles for narrow-mindedness, provincial conservatism and ignorance,[citation needed] coming at a time when the UK government was spending billions of pounds to improve the image of both Cardiff in particular and Wales in general. Today, this project is remembered by people who do not know anything else about Wales. However, critics of the Opera House project counter that it was not commercially viable, was elitist, and did not reflect the demands of the local population.[citation needed]
The project was succeeded by the Wales Millennium Centre, which offered a broader range of artistic offerings and was more in keeping with Welsh culture, whilst retaining the opera element. The Centre opened in November 2004.
