The Cervantes Theater is located in the city of

Guanajuato Guanajuato (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato), is one of the 32 states that make up the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 46 municipalities and its capital city i ...

. The building is of stone in the colonial style, designed by José Martínez Cossi and inaugurated in 1979. It is a venue of the Festival Internacional Cervantino, but also holds other events during the rest of the year.

Description

The theater is a rectangular stone building in colonial style, and includes a large wooden double door on its facade. In front of the building is the Plaza Allende, which contains statues of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza on horseback. Inside, it has a capacity of 430 and a statue of writer

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best know ...

History

The theater was designed by architect José Martínez Cossio and inaugurated on September 1, 1979. The first event held at the venue was a concert by pianist Guadalupe Parrondo. Previously, it was the site of the movie theater Cine Colonial, and the land once belonged to a

hacienda An ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or ''finca''), similar to a Roman ''latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchards), ...

dedicated to the

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ch ...

of metals. On the fortieth anniversary of the Festival Cervantino, a time capsule was interred at the base of the Quijote and Panza statues, which included a book documenting the first four decades of the event as well as photographs, letters and more.

Function

The venue is primarily for the Festival Internacional Cervantino, with less-regular events during the rest of the year. These include the Festival de Titerías (

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

s) and Andar de Paella, organized by the Universidad Santa Fe as part of a week-long city gastronomy festival. The theatre has hosted plays, operas, concerts, dances, shows for children, festivals, film events, and state and local political events.

References

{{Coord, 21, 0, 47.7, N, 101, 15, 1.97, W Theatres in Mexico Guanajuato (city)