Opened in 1920 with ownership then transferred to the city in 1929, the Municipal Theatre was considered among the best on the continent. Suffering complete destruction in a fire that left only a shell in 1998, long delayed restoration has finally been completed with the re-inauguration taking place on the 11th of October 2010.

Work started on the theatre in 1915 following a design by Manuel María Forero Ososio, finishing five years later and named the Teatro Forero. It was a privately owned theatre built where theatres had operated previously in colonial Lima’s Jirón Ica. In its first season is hosted the Gran Compañía de Opera Italiana de Adolfo Bracale performing Aida by Giuseppe Verdi.

In 1929, Lima’s municipality bought the theatre and renamed it the Teatro Municipal. Now a public theatre, it continued hosting productions of all kinds and was widely enjoyed by Lima’s theatre-goers for decades.

Disaster struck in 1998 when a ferocious fire left only a skeleton of a building in its wake. Without the funds to repair the building, the municipality left it as it was for a little over ten years, performing arts groups forced to use the dramatic scenery of the ruins as their stage.

In 2008 the announcement was made. Reconstruction would begin within 12 weeks and finish within two years. The municipality promised the best architects and experts would be brought on-board. Scandals of cheap materials and a bright new design aside, the reconstruction was completed on schedule and the grand opening took place attended by the President.

Tags: fire, lima, teatro municipal, theatre