The Opera is one of the most significant 19th century historic buildings in Budapest, together with the National Museum and the Vigadó. Its architect, Miklós Ybl did not use the square form developed by Gottfried Semper as a reference (a hall around the auditorium), otherwise regarded a standard, but he was taking into consideration the capacities of the site, he looked at the Parisian Opera as an example, where there are ornamental stairs placed at the axis of the auditorium.