Teatro Colón

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The Teatro Colón is the great opera house of Buenos Aires, Argentina. National Geographic has listed it among the ten best opera houses in the world, and the acoustics expert Leo Beranek, after surveying leading opera and orchestra directors, ranked its hall best in the world for opera and second best for concerts.

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At a glance

Country: Argentina
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Built: 1908
Type: Theatre

Quick answers

Where is Teatro Colón?

Teatro Colón is in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

When was Teatro Colón built?

Teatro Colón was built in 1908.

An opera house ranked among the best in the world for acoustics, with a horseshoe auditorium of about 2,500 seats.

Its horseshoe-shaped auditorium holds about 2,500 seats. The present building opened on 25 May 1908 with Verdi's opera Aida, after about 20 years of planning and construction. It replaced an earlier Teatro Colón that opened in 1857, and in 1989 it was declared a National Historic Monument.

Two theatres

The first Colón stood in the Plaza de Mayo until 1888. It was designed by Charles Pellegrini and held 2,500 seats. The second theatre was built facing the Plaza Lavalle, on land that once held the Parque Station, the first railway station of Argentina. The leading singers and opera companies of the time visited it, and sometimes went on to Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

Renovation and today

Over the decades the theatre declined, so it was closed for a huge renovation from October 2006 to May 2010. It reopened on 24 May 2010. Today it is home to its own orchestra, choir and ballet, plus the Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra, and also runs a children's choir and an institute for the arts. It was declared a National Historic Monument in 1989.