The project and the inauguration

The Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro is one of the main cultural institutions in the country.
The history of its construction starts in October 1903 when a public competition was open to choose the architectural design.

The projects "Isadora" and "Aquilla" achieved the same number of votes from the jury. The "Aquilla" had the secret author Francisco de Oliveira Passos, son of the Mayor Francisco Pereira Passos, whose urban reforms initiated in 1902 have radically changed the appearance of the center of Rio de Janeiro.
(Click in images to view the details)

The final design came from the fusion of the two winning projects.

The construction works started in January 1905. The cornerstone of the building was placed on 20th May of that year.

The construction and decoration works of the Municipal Theater will last four and a half years.

Just one year after the start of the construction it was possible to see the magnificence and beauty of the future theater.

On July 14th 1909 the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro was inaugurated, beginning the history of the main theater in the country, place of great concerts, operas and balls.

The first program of the Municipal Theater presented important pieces of Brazilians composers: "Insônia", by Francisco Braga; "Noturn," from the opera "Condor" by Carlos Gomes; the play "Bonança" by Coelho Neto; and the opera "Moema", by Delgado de Carvalho.

The next day the press recorded a memorable night for the city: "Night of opulent galas, said at blinding aspect of all those architectural beauties in focus, the flamboyance of those costly marbles (...); night of art by the music and by he Brazilian scene in which they were married, to celebrate the inauguration fausta, a language and warp light Bonança of Coelho Neto, and the ranges of our musicians in poems harmonies sensitizers."
(The Tribune, 15/07/1909)