Teatro Colón, Opera house in La Candelaria, Bogotá, Colombia

Teatro Colón is Colombia's national theatre, a Neoclassical building on the site of the former Coliseo Ramírez and Teatro Maldonado in Bogotá's historic centre. Its carved-stone facade follows the Tuscan Doric order, divided into three parts by stone cornices. Inside, the horseshoe-shaped auditorium was modelled on the Palais Garnier in Paris at about half its size, seating 785.

Italian architect Pietro Cantini designed the building, which opened on October 12, 1892, to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus's voyage to the Americas. Its completion reflected efforts to establish Bogotá as a major cultural center in South America.

The theatre is named after Christopher Columbus and opened on 12 October 1892, the 400th anniversary of his landing in the Americas. Its Gatti curtain, hung on 22 February 1891, shows 36 opera characters from works such as Gounod's Romeo and Juliet, Verdi's Otello and Rossini's The Barber of Seville. The Víctor Mallarino room is where Bernardo Romero Lozano pushed for the creation of the National School of Dramatic Arts.

The theatre stands in the Centro Histórico of Bogotá, on the site once occupied by the Coliseo Ramírez and the Teatro Maldonado. The main hall seats 785, with the gallery holding 148 and the boxes distributed over the first, second and third floors; the foyer on the second level holds 120. The building was closed for extensive renovations between 2009 and 2010, so check current opening before a visit.

The curtain was not commissioned by President Rafael Núñez: the contract was signed with Antonio Faccini, and the Florentine painter Annibale Gatti received the order through him. Núñez objected to Gatti's draft showing curious peasants in ruanas and hats, and asked for more decorative figures; the peasants were replaced by a dance group and muses of poetry and music. The curtain, 8.75 m high and 11.35 m wide, was completed in 1890 and hung on 22 February 1891.