The Ópera do Tejo (,

Tagus The Tagus ( ; ; ) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales between Cuenca and Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally westward, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon. Name T ...

Opera) or Real Casa da Ópera (Royal Opera House) was a luxurious

opera house An opera house is a theater building used for performances of opera. Like many theaters, it usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, backstage facilities for costumes and building sets, as well as offices for the institut ...

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, Portugal. It was inaugurated on March 31, 1755, and destroyed by the earthquake of the same year. The theater was located in the historic center of Lisbon, next to the Tagus river in the area, attached to the old Ribeira Palace. The project was commissioned by José I of Portugal for the Italian architect Giovanni Carlo Galli da Bibbiena. The hall had capacity for 600 people on the floor and in 38 boxes.Fernandes, Cristina. "A Ópera do Tejo e ''Antigono'' de Mazzoni: Memórias e sonoridades de um espaço mítico do espetáculo barroco" in the program of the representation of Antigone at the Centro Cultural de Belém, January 21–22, 2011. The theater was opened with the opera '' Alessandro nell'Indie'' by Davide Perez, with libretto by

Pietro Metastasio Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782), better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (), was an Italian poet and Libretto, librettist, considered the most important writer of ''opera seria'' libretti. Early ...

. Before its destruction, the opera also premiered two operas by Antonio Mazzoni with libretti also by Pietro Metastasio, ' (June 6) and ' (October 16).

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Ópera do Tejo
virtual site {{authority control Opera houses in Portugal Music venues completed in 1755 Theatres completed in 1755 Buildings and structures demolished in 1755 1755 disestablishments in Portugal Former buildings and structures in Portugal Theatres in Lisbon

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