Teatro Colón, Cinema building in central Lima, Peru

Teatro Colón is a cinema and theatre building in central Lima, designed in the Beaux-Arts style with horizontal bands across the facade and Corinthian columns at the corners. The building has several levels of seating, including an orchestra floor, a balcony, a gallery, and box sections, with room for around 900 people in total.

The land was bought in 1911 by Teatros y Cinemas Ltda., and the French architect Claude Sahut built the theatre, inaugurated on 18 January 1914 with the play "Los Fantoches" by the Fabregas company. Films were shown from 1921, and from 1927 the venue was used only for cinema. In 1936 the boxes and dome were removed and a floor added; in 1972 it was expropriated and declared a National Monument.

The theatre's name recalls Christopher Columbus, and its opening night on 18 January 1914 featured the play "Los Fantoches" performed by the Fabregas company. From 1921 films shared the programme with stage shows, and by 1927 the venue screened films exclusively. In the 1980s and 1990s it showed adult films, drawing around a thousand spectators a day.

The building stands on Jirón de la Unión facing Plaza San Martín, between the Giacoletti Building and the Club Nacional. It has been closed since 2000, when the municipality boarded up its doors, so the exterior is what visitors can see. Look for the added upper floor and the missing dome from the 1936 remodeling.

The building's doors were boarded up by the Municipality of Lima around 2000 after owners ignored a closure order citing city decoration and good customs. In 2004 it was auctioned, and the buyer, businessman Juan Carlos Chamorro, announced plans to remodel it, possibly as a cultural centre.