The Sassoon’s of Shanghai Link to the Royal Opera House Bombay

The Royal Opera House in Bombay, India’s only surviving opera house, has a link to China through having been part founded by David Sassoon, the Baghdadhi Jew and founder of David Sassoon & Sons that came to play such a role in the opium and other trades in Canton and Shanghai. The baroque style opera house opened in 1912 and began also screening films in the 1930s (more architectural and historical details here). It closed in the early 1990s. A pair of unique crystal chandeliers, called the ‘Sans Souci’, donated by the David Sassoon family, which had earlier been located in the Sassoon mansion, were shifted to the foyer of the opera house.

Talk of restoring the opera house has been around since 2001 and the building was then in a rather dilapated condition. Things seemed to be progressing up till 2008 but a recent report on the BBC suggested restoration work had halted. If anyone knows what is happening to the site I’d very much like to know.

Then…

And now…