In 1816, King William I of the Netherlands transferred the land and materials of the former Dominican convent to the city of Liège, on condition that a theatre be built there.

Its main façade is decorated with a marble colonnade[alpha 1] limited by a balustrade and overlooking the arcades on the ground floor.

The statue in front of the building represents the Liège composer André Grétry and is the work of the sculptor Guillaume Geefs.

The First World War was a difficult period for the opera: in August 1914, the building was requisitioned by the German army to serve as a stable and dormitory, and it was not until October 1919 that it reopened.

The Exposition internationale de Liège, in 1930, was the occasion for the definitive installation of a vast pediment with a set of allegorical figures, sculpted on the façade by Oscar Berchmans.

During the communitarisation, the Opéra royal de Wallonie became part of the French Community of Belgium, which compensated for the impecuniosity of the city in 1990, and has since been its main source of funding.

[2] From November 2009 until the end of the construction period, performances were held at the "Palais Opéra": a tent temporarily erected on the Bavarian Hospital space.

[3] The renovated Opéra Royal de Wallonia was inaugurated on 19 September 2012, with a performance of César Franck's Stradella (1841), staged here for the first time, in a production by Jaco Van Dormael, in the presence of the Belgian heir couple, Philippe and Mathilde.

Essentially interpreting the entertainment in the classical lyrical repertoire, the ballet is gradually moving towards greater autonomy and a neoclassical style.

During the 1996–97 season, when the colossal sets and costumes for La traviata were created, new needs became apparent, to address the lack of space and functionality of the then-existing facilities.

Thus, the Opéra royal de Wallonie decided to centralise its production departments in a single site, at Ans, in June 2002.