Municipal Theater of Santa Fe
Encyclopedia
Santa Fe, Argentina
Santa Fe is the capital city of province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It sits in northeastern Argentina, near the junction of the Paraná and Salado rivers. It lies opposite the city of Paraná, to which it is linked by the Hernandarias Subfluvial Tunnel. The city is also connected by canal with the...
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History and overview
The theatre arose from an initiative by Mayor Sixto Sandaza, who sought to remedy the growing city's lack of a formal concert hall or architecturally significant theater. The city is the capital of Santa Fe ProvinceSanta Fe Province
The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...
, was home to 35,000 inhabitants by the 1895 Census, and had doubled in population in merely a decade. The municipality commissioned French Argentine
French Argentine
A French Argentine is an Argentine citizen of full or partial French ancestry. French Argentines form the third or fourth largest ancestry group after Italian Argentines, Spanish Argentines, and perhaps German Argentines...
architect Augusto Plou to design the new institution, whose construction began in 1903.
Plou's design for a French Neoclassical
French Rococo and Neoclassicism
18th-century French art was dominated by the Rococo and neoclassical movements. In France, the death of Louis XIV lead to a period of licentious freedom commonly called the Régence. The heir to Louis XIV, his great grandson Louis XV of France, was only 5 years old; for the next seven years France...
exterior and interiors in the style of Louis XV
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
resulted from the day's architectural tastes among Argentine high society and government planners, alike. The façade was crowned with sculptures by local artist Nicolás Gulli, representing allegories of music and dance.
The ornate theater was inaugurated on October 5, 1905. The institution's main hall, the Sala Mayor, seats an audience of 850, was decorated by painter Nazareno Orlandi, and is notable also for a spiderweb chandelier
Chandelier
A chandelier is a branched decorative ceiling-mounted light fixture with two or more arms bearing lights. Chandeliers are often ornate, containing dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass or crystal prisms to illuminate a room with refracted light...
transferred from the city's colonial cabildo
Cabildo
Cabildo can refer to:* Cabildo , a former Spanish municipal administrative unit governed by a council* Cabildo , African ethnic associations in colonial Cuba* Cabildo , an Argentine nationalist Catholic magazine...
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An extensive modernization was completed in 1973, including the installation of electronic stagecraft
Stagecraft
Stagecraft is a generic term referring to the technical aspects of theatrical, film, and video production. It includes, but is not limited to, constructing and rigging scenery, hanging and focusing of lighting, design and procurement of costumes, makeup, procurement of props, stage management, and...
and lighting equipment, as well as central air conditioning. Two secondary halls were also opened at the time: the Leopoldo Marechal
Leopoldo Marechal
Leopoldo Marechal was one of the most important Argentine writers of the twentieth century.- Biographical notes :...
Salon, which seats 250, and the smaller Juan Franze Salon, which hosts ballet recitals.
On the occasion of the theater's upcoming centennial, Mayor Ezequiel Balbarrey commissioned its refurbishment, including the removal of the modern veranda (a visual obstacle on the façade). Inaugurated on May 25, 2005, the theater's restoration was awarded a second-place prize in the subsequent Ibero-American Cultural Patrimony Restoration Contest.