Theatro Municipal

In Cinelândia, facing Praça Floriano, the Theatro Municipal is Rio’s main stage for opera, ballet and classical music — and one of the most beautiful buildings in Brazil. With its domes, columns and sculptures, it is the great symbol of Rio’s Belle Époque, when the city wanted to look like Paris.

It opened on July 14, 1909, amid Mayor Pereira Passos’s urban reforms, which cut the Avenida Central — today’s Avenida Rio Branco — and reshaped Downtown. The design, which won a competition, is by Francisco de Oliveira Passos, the mayor’s son, working with French architect Albert Guilbert.

Its model was the Paris Opera, the Palais Garnier, as the marble staircase, gilded halls, stained glass and mosaics make clear. Leading Brazilian artists worked on the decoration: Eliseu Visconti painted the stage curtain and ceilings, and Rodolfo Amoedo also contributed decorative paintings.

The auditorium seats about 2,200 people and is home to the Theatro Municipal’s own Symphony Orchestra, Ballet and Choir, with seasons of opera, ballet and concerts. In the basement, the Salão Assyrius — a restaurant decorated in the style of ancient Assyrian art — is a surprise of its own, quite unlike the rest of the building.

The highlight is seeing a performance inside: the acoustics, the painted ceiling and the glow of the hall are all part of the experience. If you cannot fit one in, take the guided tour, which covers the foyer, the auditorium and the halls and tells the story of the theater and the artists who have graced its stage.