Guimerá Theatre

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Cultural spaces · Subcategory: Theaters · Year: 1851 · Authors: Manuel de Oraá

The building of this municipal theatre, the main venue for dramatic performances in the city, is located on what were the grounds of the old Dominican convent of Santa Cruz, which after its disentailment became the property of the City Council. The corporation devised a series of projects on these extensive grounds with the aim of providing the city with new public buildings. This is how a new market and this theatre arose here.

The plans were drawn up by the architect Manuel de Oraá in 1848, with construction beginning the following year. A two-storey building was erected on a rectangular plan in which another, horseshoe-shaped, was inscribed, intended as an auditorium, as was standard in all nineteenth-century theatre buildings; this solution was a genuine novelty in the Archipelago.

The façade consists of two sections: the lower one of stonework with seven openings, and the upper one with as many windows arranged symmetrically, supported by balconies with wrought iron railings and topped by cartouches with musical allegories. All is crowned by a central plinth, where the name of Isabel II and the city’s coat of arms, the work of the artist Gumersindo Robayna, are inscribed.

In 1851, still unfinished, the theatre was inaugurated with the play " Guzmán el Bueno ", by Antonio Gil de Zárate, staged by the dramatic company of Romualdo de Lafuente.

In the early years of the twentieth century, the interior decoration was commissioned to Francisco Granados Calderón, under the direction of the architect Antonio Pintor, with ceiling paintings by Ángel Romero Mateos. These works, with frequent interruptions, were halted by the turmoil of the Great War, concluding well into the twenties.

The last renovation of the building was undertaken in 1991 and was carried out by the architect Carlos A. Schwartz. The stage and lobby were enlarged, new dressing rooms and a multipurpose room were created, and many elements in poor condition were remodelled and renewed.

In 1923 the theatre was named after the most famous playwright born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Ángel Guimerá y Jorge (1845-1924), although he developed his entire literary career in Catalonia after moving there as a child.

The Guimerá Theatre currently has a capacity of 966 spectators and is the reference centre for the dramatic scene on the Island.

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