The ''Teatro Nacional de São Carlos'' () (''National Theatre of Saint Charles'') is an opera house in

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 Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. It was opened on June 30, 1793 by Queen Maria I as a replacement for the Tejo Opera House, which was destroyed in the

1755 Lisbon earthquake The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, impacted Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, All Saints' Day, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. In ...

. The theatre is located in the historical center of Lisbon, in the Chiado district. The house has a seating capacity of 844 seats.

History

In 1792, a group of Lisbon businessmen decided to finance the construction of a new Opera House in the city. The theatre was built in only six months following a design by Portuguese architect José da Costa e Silva, with neoclassical and

rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

elements. The general project is clearly inspired by great Italian theatres like the San Carlo of

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

(interior) and

La Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

(interior and façade). In the early 19th century, when the Portuguese Royal Court had to flee to the Portuguese colony of Brazil to escape the invading Napoleonic troops, a theatre modelled on the São Carlos was built in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. The theatre was erected in honor of Princess Charlotte of Spain who had been married in 1785 at the age of 10 to the future King, Prince John and resided with him from 1790 once she was of childbearing age: Carlos (Portuguese form of Charles) is the masculine form of Charlotte. A

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

commemorative inscription dedicates the theatre to the princess. The first opera presented here, in 1793, was ''La Ballerina Amante'', by Domenico Cimarosa. The most famous Portuguese composer of the time,

Marcos Portugal Marcos António da Fonseca Portugal (24 March 1762 – 17 February 1830), known as Marcos Portugal, or Marco Portogallo, was a Portuguese classical music, classical composer, who achieved great international fame for his operas. Biography Mar ...

, became musical director of the São Carlos in 1800 after returning from Italy, and many of his operas were staged here. Between 1828 and 1834, the São Carlos was closed during the Portuguese Civil War, fought between kings Miguel I and Pedro IV. In 1850, the lighting of the interior was changed to gas illumination, the latest technology available. Shortly afterwards, the Portuguese state bought the theatre from private investors. After a few failed attempts, electrical illumination was installed in 1887. From 1935 to 1940, the theatre was closed for repairs. In 1974, a resident opera company was established. In 1993, the Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa was created as the Teatro's affiliate orchestra, with

Álvaro Cassuto Álvaro Cassuto (born 17 November 1938) is a Portuguese People, Portuguese composer and conducting, conductor. He was born in Porto, Portugal and studied in Lisbon and Berlin, earning a law degree from the University of Lisbon, and, one year lat ...

as the orchestra's first principal conductor. Subsequent principal conductors of the Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa have included José Ramón Encinar (1999–2001), Zoltán Peskó (2001–2004) and Julia Jones (2008–2011). Since January 2014, the orchestra's principal conductor is Joana Carneiro. The theatre building was classified as Property of Public Interest in 1928 and has been reclassified as a National Monument since 1996.

Architecture

Longitudinal and composite building with articulated parts has a sober facade. The frontispiece is divided into 3 parts: 2 floors on

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...

and a third floor on the central body. This central body is torn by a

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

(entrance hall), and has a loggia at the ground level composed of 3 frontal arches and a lateral, in perfect round. The loggia is crowned by a perfect terrace of balustrade in stonework. Here, the windows are framed by parastase, that supports a highlighted cornice. They also have a crown composed of panels with inscription and two high reliefs. At the level of the third floor, this same central body presents a clock surrounded by garlands and two windows, all of which is surmounted by two pinnacles and the Portuguese coats-of-arms. At the level of the first floor, the two side bodies have two straight-polished doors crowned by low windows. Although with the same two windows, at the second floor level they feature balustrade in stonework, protruding cornice and a small window in the mezzanine area. The main room (performance hall) is elliptic, has five tiers of boxes and seats 1148 people. The luxurious royal box was lavishly decorated by the Italian Giovanni Appianni. The ceiling was painted by Manuel da Costa and the stage by Cirilo Wolkmar Machado.

References

External links

Official Teatro Nacional de São Carlos website
(in Portuguese)
General Bureau for National Buildings and Monuments (Portugal)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos 1793 establishments in Portugal Concert halls in Portugal Music venues completed in 1793 Opera houses in Portugal Theatres completed in 1793 Theatres in Lisbon National monuments in Lisbon District

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links