Municipal Theatre of Santiago, Opera house in Santiago, Chile
The Municipal Theatre of Santiago is a French Neoclassical opera house in the Santiago commune, Chile. Its pale stone facade has a central block and two projecting end pavilions, with three arched doorways under a metal canopy, four columns and a central balcony above, and carved circular reliefs on the end pavilions. The main hall seats about 1,500 and holds a 4-metre crystal chandelier with 14,300 crystals.
French architect François Brunet de Baines designed the building, which opened on September 17, 1857 with a performance of Verdi's Ernani. Several fires and an earthquake led to complete reconstructions over time, yet the venue never closed permanently.
The theatre's name comes from the municipality that owned it; the land was ceded by the state in 1848. Its resident bodies were founded under its roof: the Santiago Philharmonic Orchestra in 1955, the Santiago Ballet in 1959 and the Municipal Chorus in 1962. The Claudio Arrau Salon, seating 250, opened in 1984 when the pianist returned from exile.
The venue offers around 1500 seats on the main floor and across four balcony levels, with guided tours available through advance reservation. The central location in Santiago makes it easy to reach by public transport or on foot from downtown.
The red velvet curtain in use until 1995 weighed over 1,200 kilos; when it was replaced, donors received pieces of the old one as keepsakes. The current curtain, the fourth in the theatre's history, again weighs more than 1,200 kilos. The 1870 fire began when the falling curtain tore a gas pipe.
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