Teatro Heredia, National monument theatre in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.
Teatro Heredia is a theater building in the old town of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, and a designated National Monument of the country. It features a horseshoe-shaped auditorium, a facade decorated with classical muse sculptures, and white Carrara marble staircases inside.
Construction began in 1906 on the ruins of the Iglesia de La Merced, a church built in 1625 and abandoned during the independence wars. The theatre opened on 11 November 1911 as the Teatro Municipal, marking the centenary of Cartagena's independence, not Colombia's. It was renamed Teatro Heredia in 1933 for the fourth centenary of the city's founding, and reopened in 1998 after restoration.
The name Heredia, adopted in 1933 for the city's fourth centenary, honours the founder Pedro de Heredia rather than a poet; the India Catalina sculpture above the stage recalls his interpreter. The ceiling mural and stage curtain were painted by Cartagena artist Enrique Grau for the 1988 restoration, depicting the nine muses and a view of the city.
The theater is in the heart of Cartagena's walled old town, within easy walking distance of most other points of interest in the area. Anyone hoping to attend a show should look up the program before arriving, as performances vary throughout the year.
The building was designed with the Tacón Theater in Havana as a reference, bringing Caribbean architectural ideas from another city directly into Cartagena. This connection to Havana shows how the people behind the project looked outside their own city to shape what a cultural venue should look like.
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