Teatro Municipal de São João da Boa Vista, Heritage theater in São João da Boa Vista, Brazil.
Teatro Municipal de São João da Boa Vista is a building with eclectic architectural style located at Praça da Catedral, featuring design elements that blend different periods and traditions. The structure was constructed using high-quality imported materials including metallic elements and decorative tiles.
In 1911 young sanjoanenses back from studies in Europe and the United States pushed for a theatre; councillor Joaquim Lourenço de Oliveira proposed a ten-year tax exemption, approved in 1912. The Sociedade Anônima Companhia Teatral Sanjoanense was formed on 24 February 1913 with 113 shareholders, and the foundation stone was laid on 13 May 1913. The theatre opened on 8 November 1914 with the play "Uma Causa Célebre".
In the 1930s the Sociedade de Cultura Artística took over the former upper bar, holding saraus with local declaimers, singers and instrumentalists, and keeping a large library and a grand piano. Its guest book collected impressions from visitors such as Guilherme de Almeida and Pedro de Toledo; the poet Caruso Neto called the city "Cidade dos Crepúsculos Maravilhosos".
The theater stands in the city center, behind the Matriz church, on the site the Companhia Teatral Sanjoanense bought and exchanged for a central lot. The building is isolated by two side passages 4.15 m wide, and the stage area is 22.6 m wide by 16 m deep. The auditorium holds 480 first- and second-class seats, 22 boxes and 30 balconies, with a 500-person gallery above.
The iron columns, mezzanine supports and roof trusses were prefabricated and numbered in Belgium, then shipped to Brazil and simply assembled on site under builder Antonio Lanzac. Documents and coins of the period were placed at the base of the first iron column when the foundation stone was laid on 13 May 1913.
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