Teatre Principal de Maó, Opera house in Maó, Spain

The Teatre Principal de Maó is an opera house in Maó, Menorca, built in 1829 to a design by Giovanni Palagi on the remains of the city wall. Its horseshoe-shaped hall is ringed by 16 arches carrying three tiers of boxes plus a gallery, and it seats 793, of whom 160 have reduced visibility.

The current building opened on 15 December 1829, designed by the Italian opera impresario Giovanni Palagi on the site of an earlier theatre and dance hall built into a city-wall bastion. It replaced a 1820 reconstruction that had grown too small for the Italian opera seasons. In 1859 the interior was remodelled and the neoclassical facade built; electric lighting arrived in 1894. After a bomb fell near the stage in the Civil War, the theatre was restored, and a major rehabilitation closed it for almost five years before reopening in 2001.

The theater serves as a gathering place where locals and visitors come together for performances and cultural events. It reflects the island's commitment to the performing arts and classical music traditions.

The house presents year-round programs featuring opera, dance, concerts, and theater productions open to visitors and residents. It is centrally located and easily accessible on foot from most areas of the city.

The theatre's horseshoe-shaped auditorium has 793 seats, but 160 of them have reduced visibility because of the tiered box layout. The 2001 rehabilitation, funded after a national programme for historic theatres, kept the original stone facade and the hall while rebuilding the rest of the perimeter.