Tourist Office
Centro Britânico - São Paulo, Brazil

São Paulo Municipal Theater
Teacher: Laura Fortes

São Paulo’s Municipal Theater was constructed in 1903 and became a landmark in the city. On the stage of the place great spectacles – such as Pavarotti’s opera, Bolshoi ballet and the Paris Opera – have been presented. The Municipal Theatre is composed of three parts: the theater itself (with dressing-rooms, audience and exhibition room), the Square Branches; and the Museum.

The place (too busy for a mansion some time before) was appropriated by the city hall due to pressure of high society. Aiming at entertaining the new bourgeoisie of the city, the Italian agriculturers and immigrants, the theater’s architecture was inspired by the Paris Opera, with Renascentist and Baroque characteristics. The project, designed by Francisco Branches de Azevedo and the Italians Claudio and Domiziano Rossi, was completed in 1911 and was inaugurated on September 12 of the same year with the opera Hamlet, by Ambroise Thomes, causing the first traffic jam in the city. There were more than 300 carriages and police cars, besides numerous guests’ cars. 

When the theater was constructed, it was a place of main visitation in town, where most part of the events happened – downtown. Nowadays, most part of the events don’t happen there, but the address is still frequently visited and it’s a cultural monument in São Paulo.

Architecture

The building translates a mixture of styles, as Portuguese architect Severe Ricardo observes: 
"The exterior architecture of the building is composed in the style of the baroque renaissance, to which the Italian artists calls ' seiscento '. E the classic estio, with types and modules of the Renaissance Greek-Roman, more varied, however, in the appropriation of these types and with bigger imaginative freedom in the job of the arched line, in the ortamentais reasons and details".

Beyond the ecleticism of styles, the materials and the works had been ordered by the Office Branches of Azevedo in some countries. Benedict Rasp of Toledo analyzes: "The iron armor was ordered in Düsseldorf, the artistic iron in Frankfurt, artistic bronze in Berlin, Paris and Milan; the mosaics had come of Venice, the floor mosaics, of New York and Berlin, the marbles of Siena, Verona and Carrara and as these, sets of ten of itens had been contemplated a demanding specification ".

Come and visit São Paulo Municipal Theater!!

The Municipal Theater is one of the best places in São Paulo, holding musical and dance performances, as well as theater plays. A lot of famous people have danced in wonderful ballets and acted in plays on the Theater’s stage.

The theater can be rented, if all the laws are respected. However, as it is the most famous theater in São Paulo, it can be rented for only three big performances, which have to be booked months before.

Address
Ramos de Azevedo Square, Downtown, São Paulo, Brazil

Opening hours
Thursdays – 9 p.m.
Fridays – 9 p.m.
Saturdays – 9 p.m.
Sundays – 5 p.m.

Price levels

Section 1 – R$ 130,00
Section 2 – R$ 70,00
Section 3 – R$ 40,00

Ticket Sales

Cia. Dos Ingressos

Phone numbers: 55 0015 11 61635087 / 55 0015 11 61638472

WRITTEN BY UPPER INTERMEDIATE BRAZILIAN STUDENTS OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE: CLÁUDIA, GIHED, GIULIANA, LILIAN AND SYLVIA.
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