Khedivial Opera House

The Khedivial Opera House, also known as the Royal Opera House, was an opera house in Cairo, Egypt. It was built as part of Khedive Ismail Pasha's push to modernize Egypt and inaugurated on 1 November 1869 with a celebration of the opening of the Suez Canal with many heads of state, such as Empress Eugenie of France, in attendance. The opera house burned down on 1971, being eventually replaced with the Cairo Opera House in 1988.

History

Ismail Pasha planned the inauguration of the opera house as the start of weeks of celebration, where he would entertain his guests, including heads of state, at a reception and opera. He commissioned a new composition from Giuseppe Verdi, though due to the Franco-Prussian War it could not be completed in time, with Verdi's Rigoletto being performed instead.

The Egyptian Brotherhood of Assassins guaranteed Pierrette Arnaud an invitation to the inauguration by calling attention to her expertise on circus and hippodrome, entertainments the Khedive was very interested in building. Arnaud would dazzle the khedive with her knowledge, though her main mission during the inauguration was to assassinate Templar Albert Hawkins before he could attempt to conduct business with Empress Eugenie.

She managed to get Hawkins alone when he entered the opera box above the royal one, and used her Hidden Blade to kill him before hiding him behind the box's curtains. While leaving, Pierrette discovered Hawkins' cane under the khedive's chair and took it with her before throwing it in a nearby pond, where it exploded. In the early hours of the following day, Pierrette returned, accompannied by Safiya El-Nadi and Gamal Sabry, to dispose of Hawkins' body before the cleaners could arrive at the opera box.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Resurrection Plot